The City of Edmonds sent a news release Friday clarifying the hours of its new neighborhood satellite office at 23632 Highway 99. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facility was held March 24.
The office is currently open to the public with limited hours, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the city said. The recruitment for a permanent, part-time, front-desk administrative assistant is in progress, and once that position is hired, the city said it will announce expanded office hours for the public.
The Edmonds Municipal Court also uses the satellite office for monthly court hearings. The office also serves as home base for the Edmonds Police Department’s community engagement officer, and Edmonds police officers use the facility while in the field to complete paperwork and police reports between calls rather than driving to the main station.
Officers are not on-site at the satellite office to take calls or inquiries from the public, the city announcement said. Those who are experiencing an emergency and need an officer dispatched to them should continue to call 911.
I encourage people who see the many issues with this to be in touch with the council and mayors office. What was supposed to be an office accessible to this part of the community and which would provide expanded law enforcement presence is now only open 4 hours/3x per week – when most working class folks and families are at work or school. It doesn’t sound like the community resource officer will be up and functioning anytime soon, and the police “could” use this space, but in the 100 or so times I’ve been by since the grand opening, have literally never seen a police car outside. I am fully in support of this idea but this was either a massive blunder on the PR side – rushing the roll out for good PR for the mayor and city – or worse, was never fully planned out. The city needs to be held accountable to actually provide the services that they promised the community when starting this project.