As the Jefferson County Public Utility District (PUD) consults with architects about its proposed facility consolidation, PUD General Manager Larry Dunbar emphasized simple functionality above all other concerns.

“I told them, we don’t want anything special,” Dunbar said, during he PUD Commissioners’ Sept. 18 meeting. “We don’t want the Taj Mahal. This will be a utility building, so we plan to use it hard and wear it out.”

At the same time, Dunbar assured PUD customers the cost of such a consolidated facility would not be passed on to them.

“A portion of our cash reserves is designated for this project,” Dunbar said of the estimated $4 million price tag. “I don’t support borrowing to increase our debt.”

Dunbar elaborated on how, of the PUD’s four existing facilities, the 35-employee operations facility at 310 Four Corners Road was built in 1979, making it nearly 40 years old, while the old admin facility at 23 Chimacum Road is set to be sold, and the annex just down the road at 210 Chimacum Road is a leased facility that houses 10 employees.

The fourth facility is a water treatment plant at 21 Kennedy Road that houses five employees.

In addition to reporting that the operations facility is over capacity, the annex is at capacity and the water treatment plant is not designed for employees, Dunbar decried the inefficiency of scattering PUD employees between multiple sites across the county.

Although Dunbar described the operations facility as already “at the end of its normal lifespan” when the PUD took over in 2013, with shortfalls in a number of safety and security features, he still deemed it in better shape than the old admin facility, which is being sold because it was “falling apart” and “not worth the cost” of repairing.

“We have judiciously not made improvements to our facilities, in case they needed to be surplussed,” Dunbar said

Dunbar outlined the facility consolidation project’s four goals as follows:

1. House all employees on one campus.

2. Update and improve the existing facilities.

3. Add on-site meeting and conference room space.

4. Improve the customer service area.

The proposed 4,500-square-foot addition to the operations facility at 310 Four Corners Road would include 31 open work stations, six enclosed offices, a large conference room seating eight to 10 people, a small conference room seating up to three people, a combination boardroom/public meeting room seating up to 45 people, and four customer service representative “public interface” work stations.

The existing entry gates to the property will be relocated, as crews install totals of 21 spaces of public and visitor parking at the north end, and 42 spaces of staff parking at the south end.

With site work estimated to run $511,163, the new addition expected to be $1,539,272 and the remodel amounting to an additional $774,250, Dunbar placed the subtotal of maximum allowable construction costs at $2,824,685.

This doesn’t include a technology systems allowance of $25,000, nor the other $25,000 the PUD has budgeted for the temporary modular facilities that will be set aside for customer service and operations staff during the construction period, which is expected to commence next spring.

Following the facility consolidation design’s completion in October, Dunbar anticipates construction drawings will be ready by December, with the permitting process taking place in February of next year, followed by bidding for the contract that March.

According to Dunbar, the awarding of the contract will kick off the start of construction, in April or May of 2019, and he forecasts the consolidated facility will be ready for occupancy by February of 2020.

When coupled with a management reserve of $258,828 and “soft costs” of $863,477, this adds up to a total project budget estimate of $3,994,790.

When PUD customer Ana Wolpin asked for clarification of those “soft costs,” PUD Management Consultant Don McDaniel listed expenses as wide-ranging as architecture and permitting fees, to preparing an environmental checklist.