Two weeks after hearing a request for a $250,000 pledge toward a local $1 million investment of a $15 million-plus Career Technical Education (CTE) vocational building on the Sequim High School campus, Sequim city councilors opted to turn the request to residents.
On Nov. 28, councilors voted 5-1 — with William Armacost opposed and mayor Tom Ferrell excused from the meeting — to hold a public hearing in 2023, asking whether the city should pledge financial support for the facility.
The motion also included approval of a letter of support for the project.
Sequim School District staff have described the new facility as an expansion of Sequim students’ vocational offerings and could replace some existing infrastructure in poor shape that requires various needs and standards for different trades.
The facility, to be located on the district’s property at the northeast corner at North Sequim Avenue and West Hendrickson Road, could also double as an emergency shelter for the community, and potentially an after-hours program/campus for Peninsula College.
“I’d (suggest we) have a public hearing and see what the public wants us to do,” councilor Lowell Rathbun said at the Nov. 28 council meeting.
“The public is the prime beneficiary. Let’s see what they want.”
City staff said they’re tentatively going to set the public hearing at one of the two January 2023 city council meetings.
About the facility
According to school district staff, the proposed vocational facility would be 100 feet by 200 feet, with three “open bays” of 40 feet-by-100 feet, along with two fully resourced classrooms, restrooms and showers, and a full, restaurant-grade kitchen.
Efforts for a vocational building have been underway for about four years starting with the Sequim Sunrise Rotary, said Dale Jarvis, volunteer member of the Career Technical Education Workgroup organized by Sequim schools superintendent Regan Nickels.
He told city council members Nov. 28 that “it’s an interesting timing issue” after Senator Lisa Wellman (D-41st Legislative District), chair of the Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education, visited Sequim July 1.
She asked the community to gather $1 million by the time the legislative session begins in January to show Sequim has “skin in the game,” Jarvis said.
As of the Nov. 28 meeting, no official pledges were made yet, Jarvis wrote via email, but “there are several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of proposals being considered by a number of local groups.”
He said a CTE subcommittee is working on a business plan for the project, but that they won’t have more firm costs for about six months.
Sequim School District staff are seeking community support and funding for a vocational trades facility that would be built near the northeast corner of the main district campus, at the corner of North Sequim Avenue and West Hendrickson Street.
“The school district and work group is looking for support from the city council in a pledge so we can build up a portfolio from the community,” Jarvis said.
“I understand pledges don’t normally happen in city budgets.”
Feedback
Some councilors shared concerns about the project’s timeframe and funding.
Councilor Rachel Anderson said the request “feels so sudden” and was hesitant to make a decision “without anything being written in stone.”
She also expressed concern over “what if’s,” such as state funds going elsewhere and if the city needed to use funds it had pledged in an emergency.
“I’m also concerned about all these older (school) buildings,” Anderson said. “Feels so odd trying to fund it when there are so many buildings in the district that need funding too.”
Armacost said he supports CTE programs but feels there are concerns in the community, namely from manufactured home park residents, about tightening budgets.
“If I was in that position, I’d feel I wasn’t being heard,” he said.
“But now we’re tentatively looking at quarter-of-a-million dollars when there’s people looking at how they’re going to pay next month’s rent.”
Councilor Kathy Downer said she too supports CTE but wasn’t ready to make a pledge.
“I don’t feel like we’ve had enough time to commit to an amount by January,” she said. “The government moves very slowly.”
In the city’s Nov. 28 meeting documents, city staff wrote ways to support the project could include various in-kind services, i.e. potentially providing hands-on training in student internships, and/or financial support such as waiving permit fees using city reserves.
City attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross said to councilors that “all (waived) fees have to be made up somewhere else, so even if we have (information on potential in-kind services), we’re not going to know the final dollar amount is.”
Councilors discussed potentially using some funds from excess fund balances this year, but decided to hold off.
City staff reported, according to Nov. 28 meeting documents, that the city is projected to have excess funds per policy for about $600,000 in the general fund, $200,000 in water operations, and $50,000 in sewer operations.
If council members were to make a pledge, they could possibly do so via Rainy Day Fund, city staff said.
On Nov. 14, city councilors added the school project to their list of legislative priorities for state funding.
Sequim School District reports about 1,000 students are enrolled in at least one of about three-dozen Career and Technical Education courses including woodworking, computer science, automotive and welding services, and animal science and veterinary assistant.
