Sequim City Hall – Sequim Daily Photo

The new plaza

Sequim’s new Civic Center was dedicated a week ago with a brand new totem pole taking center stage in the adjacent plaza. You can see it to the right in the photo above. According to the local Peninsula Daily News, the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe was originally asked if they might contribute some wall art to the Center.

The tribe, Sequim’s first residents, decided instead to commission a totem pole from their master carver, Dale Faulstich. The 30 foot pole depicts “The legend of Sequim’s sunshine.” Click here to learn more about the legend as well as the dedication ceremony.

Upstairs at the new Civic Center

The new Sequim City Hall has two stories. The second story, shown here, is shared by the Public Works Department and Community Development. This is a view of the front counter/reception area taken from the Public Works side of the building looking toward the Community Development Department. In the Community Development area are offices for the City Attorney, City Clerk, City Manager, Human Resources Manager, assistants, and volunteers.

The Public Works side houses offices of the Public Works and Community Development Directors, City Engineer, Public Works Operations Manager, Planner, and other officials, a copy room, archives, and a library. There are conference rooms on each side of the building. At the back end of this floor is a staff fitness/wellness room and a lunch/break room.

The new Civic Center has been built with expectation of attaining LEED certification, given to buildings meeting various criteria for green building practices that promote healthy occupants and sound energy practices.

The new police station

The Sequim Police Station has lately been located in a back corner of a shopping center, not far from Penney’s. The new Civic Center will bring it back under one roof with other City Hall operations. Most residents will see this area of the station, the records room, which is behind the open reception area on the first floor. Like the rest of the building last week, the room is stark and bare, waiting for workers who will call it home. But the room is striking. Like most of the building, natural light streams in and brightens the interior rooms and one strong impression of the rooms is how light they seem.

Even a hallway, running through a warren of small offices, interview, and conference rooms, seems bright. Natural light comes from the offices on the right side of this shot.

This is the squad room where the officers will work. To the left are holding cells. This room, and an adjacent one where shift sergeants work, were designed to provide clear line of sight into the holding cells. Any signs of trouble can be readily seen; any officers working in this area have ready, eyes-on backup.

It doesn’t look like much, but this gun-cleaning area is a real boon. Not only is it set up to safely receive lead waste that comes from cleaning, it also has a pretty robust-looking ventilation system. A nearby storage area is protected by a refurbished safe door salvaged from the former building.

Inside the new civic center

Though it won’t be open for business until May 18 the community was invited into the new Sequim Civic Center last week for a public open house. After months of watching the building progress it was great to have a walk through to see what’s in store. The photo, above, is of the first floor building lobby not long after the doors were thrown open. Within a couple of hours this area was packed with visitors.

The building feels bright and open…partly because furnishings are still being moved in and assembled. This is the new city council chambers. The dais is populated with computer screens and will have connections for all manner of devices. The rest of the room, so far, is empty.

This is a view from inside the accounting and finance office toward its reception and bill paying area where visitors are standing. Beyond the gathering of people is the reception area for police services. Many areas in the new building have work cubicles assembled and in place. But it looks oh so brand new without chairs and the personality that people bring to a workplace.

The woman in green standing at the door to the right, above, is at an entrance to the new police services area of the building. Visitors were taken on tours of this area. Tomorrow I’ll show you some of what lies behind the scenes in our new police station.

Getting closer

The new Sequim Civic Center is on the home stretch. Part of the street has been blocked off as a sidewalk is being poured. And the building has much more color than our last look at it in February.

This view from the other end of the building shows some of the new sidewalk. The local newspaper says that an open house is planned sometime next month after completion and before staff moves in to work. I plan to be part of the local “lookie loo” crowd.

Progress report

It’s time for another look at the new Sequim Civic Center. It’s definitely coming along. Now with paneling applied to the exterior walls, it’s easier to visualize its eventual scale.

You can see here the obvious progress since the last shot that I posted in September from a similar perspective.

Here’s another view from what I think is the back of the building.

Taking shape

The last time I showed you the new Sequim City Hall, in August, there really wasn’t much to show. Within days of that post the structural framework was erected, quickly defining the new building. The completed facility will be 34,000 square feet and will include both city administrative offices and the police station.