Drafter
Clerk 09/17/2014
Title
AN ORDINANCE approving the assignment, assumption and execution of a lease in the Watermark 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 nonprofit 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 Northwest Defenders Association, which had been leasing space in the Watermark Tower, located at 1107 First Avenue, Seattle, Washington, within council district eight, since 2011.
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 Watermark Tower its consent to the assignment of the Northwest Defenders Association's rights and obligations under the lease in the Watermark Tower 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, estima...
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