County tags June 16 as moving day

PORT ORCHARD — The oft-delayed moving of many county employees from their old digs into the new administration building is on for the weekend of June 16. Making the move are the offices of the commissioners, auditor, assessor, treasurer, community development and information technology.

“I’m so excited about this,” commissioner Chris Endresen said. “We’ve waited for this for a long time. We’ll finally have a good space where we can work, and a good space where the public can do county business. Right now, we have people working in spaces that were designed as closets.”

Making the move immediately following the close of business on June 16 are the county’s IT staff who will work over the weekend setting up shop. Movers are scheduled for the rest of the weekend to get everyone’s possessions relocated in time for opening on Monday morning.

All three of the county commissioners will be out of town, since they are participating in a disaster training program in Pennsylvania.

They will return on June 26, at which time they will hold their first public meeting in the new council chamber.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for Aug. 1, which will include public tours of the new building.

The action begins a space reallocation process that resembles a game of dominoes — one that could take a year and will affect all county offices.

As the old tenants move out, the county wanted to the upgrade its remaining space. Initially, the current administration building was to become a law and justice center, with the courts and prosecutor moving into the space vacated by agencies moving into the new building.

However, the Public Works building requires weatherization, necessitating the temporary relocation of 101 employees, so the personnel and Public Works departments will be redistributed to the space now occupied by DCD at the Givens Center and other ancillary buildings.

The Public Works building, constructed in 1991, has had water problems for the last decade.

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