After years of planning and nearly a year after breaking ground, the City of Sequim’s Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar St., opened on Monday, May 18. The building opens from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. for police and city services.

Deputy Mayor Dennis Smith cut the ribbon with fellow Sequim city councilors, city staff and local dignitaries nearby, including from the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce which sponsored the event. Mayor Candace Pratt was out of town on a personal trip.

Police Chief Bill Dickinson rolled out the crime tape to honor the opening of Sequim’s Police Station, too, and asked Pat Johansen to cut the tape for the occasion. She helped instigate a vote for a public safety sales tax in 2012 worth one-tenth of 1 percent to help pay for the new police department.

Before the ribbon cutting, City Manager Steve Burkett spoke to the crowd about the center’s benefits for the community.

“It will improve our customer service and it consolidates all of the city’s services in one location,” he told the Gazette.

Burkett also thinks it is a major component of downtown Sequim.

“It’s a positive thing for maintaining the health of downtown, which is an important part of the community,” he said.

“It’s also a positive thing for helping Sequim’s economy and continuing to be a great place to live so people will be moving here all while the city government provides quality services.”

Last week, city staff began moving into the new 33,000-square-foot facility from the former police station at the Sequim Village Center, city hall at 226 N. Sequim Ave. and Public Works and Community Development at 615 N. Fifth Ave.

Burkett said some police officers still are operating at the old facility because the Civic Center’s holding cells aren’t ready yet.

Tentatively, all police operations and evidence will be moved to the center by the end of next week.

Lydig Construction and its subcontractors continue finishing touches on the $14.45 million building and its community plaza costing $466,982. The plaza, which features open space, a totem pole donated by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and a 9/11 artifact from the World Trade Center, is slated for completion prior to the official Civic Center dedication ceremony at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 13, with tours from 3-4:30 p.m.

Burkett said workers are installing rock this week and next in the plaza.

Previously, residents packed the center to see the first look inside to the public at an open house on May 1.

The city council’s first meeting in the building tentatively is slated for June 8.

The planned rotating art exhibit “What Sequim Means to Me,” with 16 pieces selected by the city’s Arts Advisory Committee, tentatively will be on display for the First Friday Art Walk on June 5.

For updates on the project, visit sequimwa.gov or call 683-4139.