Community Government

City Council approves $4.5 million contract for public works operations center

The Gig Harbor Public Works Department is a step closer to having a new operations center after the city council approved contracts worth nearly $4.5 million to build it.

The largest contract approved by the council on Monday was the $3.6 million construction contract with Pease and Sons Construction. The council also delegated change order authority to the city engineer for 5 percent of the construction contract.

The new building has been on the city’s wish list for at least 18 years, City Administrator Katrina Knutson said.

The city has outgrown its 1980s-era Public Works operations building. Ed Friedrich / Gig Harbor Now

In that time the Public Works operations team has grown as the city added more infrastructure, like roads, parks and pipes.

“The current facility hasn’t been updated to accommodate all these new staff,” Knutson said. “So the mayor and city council are delighted and overjoyed to award the contract for construction of this much-needed facility in order to provide a facility that our employees will enjoy working in and that our residents can be proud of.”

The city expects work to begin in mid-May and wrap up in about 12 months, according to Public Works Director Jeff Langhelm.

Short-term rental monitoring

The council approved a one-year contract with Granicus to monitor and report on short-term rental activities in the city.

Among other things, Granicus will monitor approximately 60 websites such as Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway and others that advertise STRs. The company will identify the addresses and owners of local properties In the listings, and will update the information every three-to-five days.

Granicus will also track the amount lodging tax collected by each STR.

Information will be available via an online public dashboard.

Comp Plan public outreach

The city is due for an update to its Comprehensive Plan, which guides growth and development. The state Growth Management Act requires cities to update comp plans every eight years.

On Monday, the council approved a Public Participation Plan contract with SJC Alliance to guide public input into the 2024 update.

SJC Alliance will organize outreach activities to engage and gather input from city residents; property owners and business owners; the Peninsula School District; Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One; the library district, tribes, service clubs and other organizations.

Outreach will kick off with visioning workshop in May to discuss the update process and begin collecting feedback. The process also will incorporate additional workshops this year and next and at least one online survey.

The council’s next meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 10.