King County Sheriff’s Office officially opens in Sammamish

Published 4:53 pm Friday, June 8, 2012

Years of hard work came to fruition Friday afternoon as the King County Sheriff’s Office officially opened its new Eastside precinct on the second floor of Sammamish City Hall.

“What’s so wonderful about this particular partnership is that it saves money for the King County tax payers, it saves money for Sammamish tax payers and addition to that it actually improves the level of services,” said Ben Yacizi, Sammamish city manager. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”

In an effort to save money and extend its resources, the KCSO consolidated its offices in Kenmore and Maple Valley into one office atop the Plateau. The move is expected to save the Sheriff’s Office $400,000 a year. It will also provide more a convenient location — something that will benefit all Eastside residents.

“By consolidating the two precincts into one, it makes it more centrally located so that officers who are in the city and officers who will be coming from the rural areas will be in closer proximity,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine, one of many speakers on hand to celebrate the opening of the new office. “That will make sure we spend more time with citizens making sure their needs are met.”

The county will lease 5,200 of the approximate 7,600 available square feet on the top floor of city hall for $104,000 a year. The proposed lease term of 30 years is broken into three 10-year increments. Either party may terminate the lease at the end of 10 years with12-months notice.

Former King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, who now serves as the Director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center, first started talks three years ago about bringing a consolidated office to Sammamish. She was also on hand Friday to celebrate the new building.

“I want to make sure, that especially the citizens of Sammamish, fully appreciate how significant this project is,” she said. “You’re being talked about all over the nation.”

Major Jerrell Wills will be in charge of the consolidated office. His new corner office with a view of Seattle and beyond was one of the more popular topics of conversation Friday, drawing jokes from just about every speaker.

“I do have a surprise announcement,” said King County Sheriff Steve Strachan as he took the podium. “I am actually taking Jerrell’s office.”

Jokes aside, Strachan wanted to emphasize just how important the new office was, pointing out that he hopes others in government will follow suit.

“This is what government should be doing,” he said. “This is how we save money and focus on what matters. Because what matters in our business is officers on the streets, detectives working cases and finding ways to … build partnerships with people who haven’t always worked well together.”

Major Jerrell Wills speaks during the opening ceremony of the new King County Sheriff’s Office in Sammamish.