FORKS — The state Department of Licensing is staying put in the West End but will move from 41 Bogachiel Way, where a sewage leak prompted the indefinite shutdown of the office Dec. 1.
The relocation to 421 Fifth Ave. and the minor remodeling required at that address mean Forks and other West End residents will continue to be without part-time driver’s license and motorcycle endorsement services for more than a month longer, agency spokesman Tony Sermonti said Wednesday.
The agency will resume its operations by Jan. 31, when the state office will move into its new quarters and share space with the state Department of Social and Health Services, which is already stationed at that location.
“I’m pleased they are staying in the community,” Mayor Bryon Monohon said.
Sermonti said once the office reopens, it will maintain its hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.
Floor plans to add a counter, a voice-data line and electrical outlets to the state DSHS office were received Wednesday, said Jim Erskine, a spokesman for the state Department of General Administration, which oversees state leases.
“It’s not an option for DOL to move into the old space,” Erskine said.
Sermonti had said Dec. 3 that he could not guarantee the Forks office would reopen, saying the state viewed the Forks facility “as part of a broader office consolidation” of DOL facilities.
The Forks licensing office averages 246 transactions a month, Sermonti has said.
No service since Dec. 1
But there have been no services since Dec. 1, when employees discovered visible, raw sewage seeping into the facility from a cracked cast-iron pipe.
Since then, West End residents who want services must travel to the Port Angeles office, which is 57 miles from Forks.
“It’s incredibly difficult for people to find the time and resources to go into Port Angeles,” Monohon said.
Janet Marion, an owner of the Bogachiel Way building, said Wednesday repairs will include asbestos abatement of walls and floor tiles, but her insurance would not cover sewer problems or asbestos removal.
The agency has been housed at the same address for more than 40 years, she said.
“We just can’t do [the repairs] in their time frame and at their specifications,” Marion said.
The state, which was paying $550-a-month rent for 1,028 square feet, will pay “in the neighborhood of $400-plus” a month for about 300 square feet in its new quarters, Erskine said.
The owner of the 421 Fifth Ave. building is Sandy Sunni LLC, with a contact phone number in Seattle, Erskine said.
State Department of Licensing offices are closed statewide today on Christmas Eve and will remain closed Monday, which is a required temporary layoff day. Offices will be open statewide Tuesday.
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Senior staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.