A Letter from City Manager Jessi Bon on the Permanent Closure of City Hall

October 4, 2023

For the past six months, my office – alongside a team of staff and outside experts – have been working to address the unexpected closure of City Hall due to the discovery of asbestos in the building’s HVAC system. At last night’s City Council meeting, the Council unanimously supported my recommendation to permanently close City Hall. I want to provide an update on why that decision was made and what’s ahead.

In April of this year, maintenance staff identified broken floor tiles in the City Hall basement mechanical room and these tiles were confirmed to contain asbestos. Because this mechanical room houses key components of the building’s HVAC system, including an air handling unit, City Hall was immediately closed while further testing was conducted.

From April through July, the City worked with PBS Engineering and Environmental to conduct comprehensive asbestos testing of the City Hall building, which included air sample, settled dust, and bulk material testing, with a focus on the HVAC system. Fortunately, no asbestos fibers were identified in any air samples, but settled dust tests did confirm asbestos is present above background levels (which requires abatement) in several segments of the HVAC system. Based on these findings, the HVAC system was turned off and has been inoperable since mid-May.

The location of both confirmed and likely asbestos in the City Hall HVAC system makes abatement extremely difficult, costly, and time-consuming. There is limited accessibility to some areas of the HVAC system, as many of the oldest ducts are encapsulated behind heavy plastic sheeting, fiberglass batt insulation, and/or multiple layers of ceiling material. The testing inside the HVAC system was taken as far as it could but was halted in early summer due to limited access to the remaining areas of the system. The presence of fiberglass batt insulation throughout the system also means it is not possible to clean and return the existing system to operation. The only option to address the HVAC asbestos contamination is a full replacement of the system, and subsequently, the associated infrastructure (ceiling, lighting, cabling, etc.).

City staff and consultants provided a comprehensive report to the City Council on these findings at the July 18, 2023, City Council meeting and that information is available here on Let’s Talk.

With that information in hand, we evaluated different scenarios for re-occupying City Hall, either fully or partially. The preliminary cost estimate to re-occupy City Hall is in excess of $10 million, with an estimated timeline of nearly two years to complete the work. We also considered a more modest approach and evaluated re-occupancy of the police portion of the building only, and those cost estimates are in excess of $4 million. While these costs alone likely exceed the anticipated return on investment, there are other factors that were considered in the decision to permanently close City Hall.

City Hall was built in 1957 and has been repaired and renovated over the years, with the last major renovation occurring in the late 1980s. Prior to the asbestos situation, the City Council recognized the need for a replacement strategy for this building, and in early 2023, the City began working on a Facilities Conditions Assessment to guide long-term decisions. The initial assessment work highlighted the many other matters of concern related to the long-term use of City Hall. The building suffers from structural and seismic deficiencies. Almost all the interior walls have been identified as lacking lateral bracing and, unless reinforced, are at risk of failure in the event of seismic activity, potentially rendering the building inoperable. Additionally, the building does not conform with current energy or building code requirements, and multiple building systems are failing or need to be substantially replaced.

Given this additional information and the anticipated investment needed to re-occupy City Hall and bring it up to current standards, the decision was made to permanently close the building and turn our attention to identifying a replacement strategy.

What does this mean for City services in the short-term? While we’re still working through our day-to-day operations, I can tell you that City staff remain hard at work and almost all public services continue to be available as normal. I’m incredibly grateful to our staff teams for their flexibility and creativity as we’ve figured out how to double up in offices, move equipment to other buildings, and sort through this challenge. Approximately 80% of our team continues to work in-person on Mercer Island, whether from shared workspaces in administrative areas of the Community Center, the Maintenance Building, the Luther Burbank Administrative Building, or out in the field. The remaining staff are working from a combination of home offices and in shared/rotating office spaces on-Island, often holding meetings at the Community Center or at other locations.

We encourage all Islanders to review our Let’s Talk Page – you can learn more about the many details involved in the decision to close City Hall and ask a question that hasn’t yet been answered. As always, our Customer Service Team stands ready to assist you in answering questions or accessing City services.

While having to suddenly close City Hall was unexpected and unfortunate, we are turning our attention to the critical work involved in identifying a long-term replacement strategy and discussions with the community and the City Council are anticipated to begin in 2024.

Thank you,

Jessi Bon
Mercer Island City Manager