EVERETT – The county’s new garage has a parking problem.
Sheriff Rick Bart says it’s unfair to make detectives, and other sheriff’s office employees who drive county-owned cars, pay to park there. The county executive’s office says it’s unfair to other employees not to charge them.
For the past five months, neither side has budged. Now they’re in negotiations to try to settle the spat.
It started in February when the county denied paid parking to Bart and 15 sheriff’s office employees.
“It sends the wrong message to employees who respond to emergencies every day to say we’re going to charge you to park in a county garage,” said Bart, who agreed to pay the $87.50 monthly fee for his own parking.
The other cars are driven by detectives who work in the Snohomish County Courthouse building. Bart has also requested a parking spot for the sheriff’s office volunteer coordinator.
The sheriff’s office paid for parking at the county’s old garage, which was demolished to make way for the new $29 million underground garage.
When the new 1,200-stall garage opened in February, the executive’s office told the sheriff he and 15 other employees would again have to pay. The cost for nonreserved spaces is $70 a month.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of employees that want the county to pay for their parking, but we don’t do that,” Deputy County Executive Gary Weikel said.
The sheriff’s office employees “should have to pay for their parking, just like everybody else,” he said.
The only exception is some employees at the county auditor’s office who use their own vehicles for their work, he said.
The sheriff’s office cars need to be parked close by because detectives and other employees are called to crime scenes, Bart said.
The detectives’ cars also require parking in a secure space because they contain law-enforcement equipment such as firearms, ammunition and body armor, Bart said.
The garage has spots for patrol cars for officers who come to court to testify. The other patrol cars are parked at the sheriff’s office precincts.
If sheriff’s office employees want paid parking at the garage, they should negotiate for that benefit, Weikel said. That may be part of labor negotiations in October, he said.
“It’s a fairness issue,” he said.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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