Tacoma is giving its City Council chambers a $325K facelift. Here’s what that will buy
The room where the Tacoma City Council meets is getting a makeover.
Earlier this week the city stated in a news release that council meetings and study sessions at City Hall, 747 Market St., have been temporarily moved. Work started May 22 to update the council chambers.
The construction is part of what the city is calling the “Council Chambers Improvement Project.” Work is expected to wrap up in early July.
What is being updated in the Tacoma council chambers?
They’ve said it before and they’ll probably say it again: City leaders want to hear from you. The improvement project aims to make conversing with folks a little easier.
The city’s plan will put a conference table in the chambers that will face local officials seated at the dais. The idea is that it will make it easier to hold discussions with people joining council for meetings and study sessions.
“While this update will require the removal of the first two rows of chairs, it will provide an option to bring everyone to the table and support deeper, more productive conversations,” city spokesperson Maria Lee told The News Tribune in an email.
Asked whether the updates would benefit the general public, Lee provided a response from Mayor Victoria Woodards. The way Woodards sees it, the project is about “transparency and demystifying local government.
“We want the public to have better access to the highly interactive and open deliberations that the Council has around highly complex issues,” the mayor continued. “This, in turn, can provide the community with better insight and understanding of decision making.”
What does the project cost?
Money for the project is coming out of the city’s Facilities and Media & Communications Office budgets, Lee said.
The estimated price tag? Around $325,000.
Where are the meetings temporarily held?
The answer depends on the occasion. Those wanting to attend a study session should head to Room 16 of the Tacoma Municipal Building North, 733 Market St. Those meet-ups are happening at the normal time and day of week: noon on Tuesdays.
Tacomans wanting to check out a City Council meeting in person will have to venture a bit farther. Held at 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, council meetings are for now located in the city’s Public Utilities Auditorium, 3628 S. 35th St.
How to watch virtually
If you can’t make it to a study session or council meeting in person, they are available to view online. The hybrid-format meetings are live-streamed on Facebook, facebook.com/cityoftacoma, and can be watched on TV Tacoma or tvtacoma.com.
Project updates will be posted to the city’s social-media pages and website, Lee said. Agendas, recordings and access details are still viewable at cityoftacoma.legistar.com.
You can also see City Council meetings on Zoom, www.zoom.us/j/84834233126, as well as study sessions, http://www.zoom.us/j/89496171192.
To listen remotely during a council meeting, dial 253-215-8782. The meeting ID is 848 3423 3126 and the passcode is 349099. For study sessions, call that same number and enter a different meeting ID, 894 9617 1192, and passcode, 896569.
