The next steps in Thurston County’s long-awaited and recently scaled-back courthouse hill renovation project are becoming clearer. According to stakeholders, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Board of County Commissioners presented a proclamation during its Tuesday, Jan. 21, meeting prioritizing community trust, fiscal responsibility and transparency for its courthouse improvements.
The commissioners agreed this month to pursue a $5.5 million investment that will address immediate safety and infrastructure concerns within the existing buildings and ensure the continued operation of essential courthouse functions while the county explores long-term solutions for a new courthouse complex. In 2022, the board initially approved a $50 million renovation of the buildings on courthouse hill, but the current board agreed to scale it back.
Thurston County District Court, Superior Court and Bar Association officials expressed their gratitude to the commissioners for finally unifying in their goal to develop the renovation plan and shared their nagging concerns about working in the buildings, which opened in 1978.
Superior Court Judge John C. Skinder told the commissioners that concerns regarding the courthouse complex were raised even when he started working for the county 25 years ago. He shared that the buildings are far from equipped to handle modern technology needed to operate court matters.
“It has been well known that this building is failing. The problem is this building was not designed to last this long,” he said. “We need a modern, correctly sized, safe and secure courthouse that’s accessible to everybody. That building was not designed to be used the way that we use it today, especially after we went through the pandemic. We have hybrid court, where we have people physically appearing, and we have people appearing through Zoom. Both buildings struggle badly with trying to do the technology things we want to do.”
District Court Judge Brett Buckley added that the commissioners and county staff have kicked off a “new beginning” by coming to an agreement on the need for courthouse improvements.
“I appreciate the fact that we’re here talking about it. In my mind, it’s a new beginning. My bottom line is this: every day we wait, it becomes more expensive,” he said. “[The buildings] are wholly inadequate for the purposes of the functions we engage in.”
Skinder said courthouse staff utilize what are essentially closets as offices that fit two or three employees. Buckley added that the location of the courthouse is “a bad location” and that the building “in no way represents a courthouse and doesn’t take into any account the functional operations of a courthouse.”
Both Buckley and Skinder, as well as Thurston County Bar Association President-Elect Marie Docter, agreed that the courthouse complex does not provide an accessible nor safe experience for those using the buildings.
“If you’re mobility challenged in some way, that courthouse is very difficult to make its way through, and we are the state capital. We have to have a courthouse that all of our citizens can go into and can use and be comfortable,” Skinder said.
In terms of funding the project, County Manager Leonard Hernandez said the configurations that county staff are exploring are purchasing existing buildings, leasing to own existing buildings, or securing property for a future build. He told the commissioners that the county will solicit for proposals to bring back the best options for the board to consider.
Board Chair Tye Menser shared a personal anecdote about his first days working in Thurston County as a lawyer and his bewilderment at the location of the courthouse.
“I’ll never forget my first week as a resident in Thurston County. I was a lawyer, and I was sent by my employer to go file something, and I think I got lost trying to find the courthouse. I finally got there and I remember thinking, ‘This is the courthouse for the capital of the state of Washington?’ ” Menser said. “I was pretty stunned. The location is so bizarre. It’s totally buried in an inappropriate location, from my perspective.”
In a news release, the commissioners and stakeholders expressed relief and happiness at the project moving forward and the collaboration involved.
“I am proud that as a board, we are committed to moving Thurston County forward in a way that reflects both our current needs and future growth,” Commissioner Wayne Fournier said in the release. “This scaled-back renovation of the Courthouse Hill buildings is a step away from past approaches, prioritizing fiscal responsibility while setting the stage for a more sustainable, forward-thinking plan that will serve our community for generations to come.”
After Fournier directed county staff during the board’s agenda-setting meeting to develop a proposal for a capital budget request from the state to fund some of the renovation project, Commissioner Carolina Mejia responded that staff is already working on one.
“I don’t think there’s any reason why we shouldn’t do a capital budget request to ask the state to help us fund half of it. It’s a project that’s absolutely shovel-ready and that would be easy for them to say yes to,” Fournier said. “It would be easy to make an argument in favor of getting state funding with the fact that the state uses our courthouse as their courthouse.”
