Title
AN ORDINANCE approving the assignment, assumption and execution of a lease in the Prefontaine Building, to support the operations and services of the department of public defense.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. On May 20, 2013, the King County council adopted Ordinance 17588 creating a department of public defense within the executive branch.
2. The four independent non-profit agencies, which had been providing public defense services to the county under contracts, were subsumed as divisions into the newly created department of public defense.
2. One of the nonprofits subsumed into the new department was the Associated Counsel for the Accused, which had been leasing space in the Prefontaine Building, located at 110 Prefontaine Place South, Seattle, Washington, within council district eight, since 1998.
3. The desire of the department of department of public defense is to ultimately consolidate its divisions within county-owned buildings.
4. The facilities management division determined that currently there is not sufficient space in county-owned building to consolidate the newly created department.
5. The facilities management division determined, through consultation with the department, that continued leasing was the most cost-effective option for the county.
6. The facilities management division successfully negotiated with the landlord of the Prefontaine Building its consent to the assignment of the Associated Counsel for the Accused's rights and obligations under the lease in the Prefontaine Building to King County and the county's assumption of the same. As part of those negotiations, the facilities management division negotiated an amendment to the terms of the original lease, including, but not limited to, the term of the lease. The new term will allow the county to terminate the lease substantially sooner than under the original lease. This in turn will facilitate the plan to consolidate the the department in county-owned space, e...
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