Blaine police, public works administration move to city hall

The Blaine Police Department (BPD) and public works department have begun moving their administrative offices into the second floor of the city hall building, located at 435 Martin Street, Suite 2000.

Police officers will still work from the current police station on 322 H Street, but now services such as fingerprinting, records requests and concealed pistol license applications will be conducted at city hall.

The move was similar for public works, allowing more space for operations and maintenance crews in the existing building at 1200 Yew Avenue, and moving engineers and administration under the same roof as the rest of city government.

BPD lieutenant Michael Munden told The Northern Light that the police station had run out of space to properly store evidence, and was able to gain back some much-needed storage and training space with administration moved to city hall.

“[Overcrowding] was an enormous issue,” Munden said. “Imagine your own home or office with no storage capacity. We had to stack things in halls and cram items into existing offices.”

Munden said the overcrowding created safety issues for its employees, and made it hard to work quickly when important items were being lost in the office’s halls.

Moving the administrative side of the police department to a central location where the majority of other Blaine city government organizations work day in and day out also helps with inter-agency efficiency, Munden said.

Gary McSpadden, assistant director of public works, said that while the Yew Avenue office wasn’t as crowded as the police station, having city engineers and planners working under the same roof increases cohesion among the team.“It just made sense to get the engineering staff and the [city] planning group in the same building. They work so closely together,” McSpadden said.

The move also allowed for the police department to utilize a $30,000 Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission grant, which funded the conversion of the old evidence room into a wellness room for officers to decompress after traumatic calls, and an outdated radio room into a gym.

Both BPD and public works can still be reached by residents at their standard email and phone contacts, but for in-person visits, Munden said residents will need to visit city hall unless they have a scheduled appointment with an officer. The station doors are now locked with a phone outside to call 911 or the administration in city hall. 

“Most communication with police administration is conducted by phone or email anyway. Moving our mailing address did little to change this,” Munden wrote. “Citizens now have access to all police services in the same building as other city services, including the court.”

For any public works-related business, such as bill payments or permitting, the public is encouraged to visit the new offices on the second floor of city hall, McSpadden said. The public can also visit the public works’ website at bit.ly/477jHLV.