Crowds turn out to view new facility
A day that was a decade in the making turned out about as well as could be hoped for when the new Twisp Civic Building and Emergency Operations Center was unveiled to the public on Saturday (Oct. 29).
While some details remain to be finished, the revamped street, sidewalks and public plaza were ready for visitors, including paving that was completed just the day before. A worker deftly scrambled up and down the metal tower at the southwest corner of the structure to finish bolting in letters for the words “Twisp Civic Building,” just in time for the 11 a.m. start of the event. Which, typical of the “Methow time” phenomenon, actually got going a bit later than that.
For that matter, the event was several months later than the originally planned July celebration, due to construction-related delays. The town staff began moving into the new building on Oct. 24, transitioning from temporary quarters on East Second Avenue.
Saturday’s grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony — which also drew folks from the final Methow Valley Farmers Market of the season — had a celebratory feel on brilliant fall day. Adults and kids leisurely wandered through the closed-off streets and sidewalks, stopping for a lot of conversations.
The American flag in front of the building was raised by members of Methow Valley American Legion Post 143: Commander Keith Morden, First Vice Commander William Robinson and Sergeant at Arms Hank Cramer.
After talks by half-a-dozen invited speakers and Mayor Soo Ing-Moody, the building was opened for tours guided by Town Council members and staff.
Ing-Moody introduced a succession of guests who each had some involvement in supporting the building’s progress over the past 10 years: former state Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, state Reps. Mike Steele and Keith Goehner, former state Rep. Cary Condotta, state Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Hilary Franz, Okanogan County Emergency Management Director Maurice Goodall, and Twisp Town Council member Hans Smith representing his colleagues on the council.
Also on hand was local artist Kayla White, whose dramatic painting reflecting her feelings about the Carlton Complex Fire of 2014 had been purchased a few years ago by Ing-Moody — and which now hangs in the new Civic Building.
The event featured free hot dogs, coffee and cupcakes, seasonal decorations such as corn stalks, hay bales, fire pits and pumpkins, and music by local talents Laura Love and Terry Hunt — all made possible by sponsors including the Twisp Chamber of Commerce, Blue Star Coffee Roasters, Hank’s Harvest Foods, Mountain Meals Catering, Twisp Feed and the Washington state Department of Commerce.
There was an actual ribbon cutting after some maneuvering of the scissors by Smith and Ing-Moody. After all that, people lined up to take small-group tours that included stops in the vaulted, skylit foyer, the police department, Town Council chambers and administrative offices including those of mayor, clerk, public works director and planning director.
Town officials want residents to know that Glover Street is now fully open to two-way traffic. An area created by the partial vacation of Third Avenue east of Glover Street will function as a public plaza.
Years in development
In her talk, Ing-Moody reminded attendees that the Civic Building was the culmination of a plan to replace the town’s aging structures, including the new Public Works Department headquarters on Ewell Street.
The mayor also briefly reviewed the history of how the new building evolved from a necessity to a plan to a realized dream — with some hurdles along the way. She recalled that in 2011, the old Town Hall on the same site was plagued by a leaky roof — which upon further inspection revealed other issues such as unreinforced masonry walls that had shifted off the building’s foundation, lack of heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems, and other cracks in the buildings structure. It also lacked storage for public records; had limited access for disabled persons; and had no emergency exit from the council chambers, which also housed the municipal court.
None of those faults was fixable in any feasible or fiscally manageable way, so planning began to replace Town Hall.
The intensity of effort took an exponential leap a couple of years later after the Carlton Complex Fire, when the communications lapses that hampered firefighting and community responses to conditions including loss of power and cell phone service prompted a decision to also make the new Civic Building a hub for emergency communications for the valley.
For years thereafter, the town worked with county, state and federal officials on both planning and funding, much of which came from state capital improvement grants supported by 12th District legislators.
The town fortuitously received a state capital budget allotment of $1.5 million in 2021 — thanks to some last-minute legislative session action spearheaded by Steele — to augment the earlier funding it accumulated for the building, which totaled about $3 million from a combination of other capital budget appropriations, a state Department of Commerce community development block grant and town reserve funds.
The road to completion had a few potholes to be navigated before construction started last year. Early cost estimates fell well short of even the lowest bids from contractors, which required postponements for new bids, building redesigns and the elimination of some features in the original plan. The COVID pandemic, which created contractor and supply chain problems for Twisp (and everyone else), also hampered progress.
The final push came with the town’s acceptance earlier this year of an $850,000 low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program to restore some features both inside and outside the new civic building, that had been eliminated in cost-cutting efforts. The loan, to be paid off over 30 years, was something town officials had not wanted to do but was necessary to provide enough funds.
The civic building was designed by Idaho-based Architects West. The general contractor was Leone & Keeble of Spokane.
