Silver Lake water is building new offices

Within the next year, no staff members at the Silver Lake Water District will have to deal with a refrigerator as part of their office space, unless they want one at their desk.

That’s because by this time next year the district and its 17 employees will have moved into new, larger offices just east of Mill Creek.

“Seeing as how our office manager is in our kitchen, yes, we are looking forward to moving,” said Patrick Curran, Silver Lake Water’s general manager. “We’re completely cramped on space.”

The district recently began construction on a 13,000-square-foot, one-story office building, as well as a separate 13,000-square-foot maintenance and vehicle storage facility, at 15121 41st Place SE., just off the intersection of 148th Street SE. and Seattle Hill Road.

Currently, the district houses itself in an office building on 132nd Street SE. that is less than 6,000 square feet with a 10,000-square-foot maintenance building. The district has been housed on the site since the late 1960s.

The move is needed because of growth in the district’s service area, which is mostly unincorporated Snohomish County but also includes parts of the cities of Mill Creek and Everett. Approximately 35,000 people are served by the district.

“We’ve just outgrown the facility,” Curran said. “We need more space for staff and to do all the tasks required of us by the state and federal governments, such as water quality testing.”

The move comes after study by the district and its board of commissioners, which decided to build a new facility rather than expand the current site or build a new facility in stages.

“This is being built to handle our needs for the next 30 years,” Curran said.

However, the current site on 132nd Street SE, which will soon be annexed into the city of Mill Creek, will not be abandoned by the district. Curran says the district plans to erect an 8-million-gallon above-ground water storage tank.

Once in the new facility, the district plans to hire as many as six new staff members – three office workers and three field personnel – although those hires might not take place until 2007, Curran said.