Unless there's a change of heart by a certain four Pierce County Council members, the county will take a poll of voters this summer on support for a new county office building. The council voted 4-3 April 21 in favor of placing an advisory ballot measure before voters in the primary election Aug. 4. Advisory votes are non-binding but are used by governments sometimes as an indication of voter preference on a particular issue. Whether one is appropriate for the $126.9 million office project drew sharply different opinions from council members last week. Nevertheless, a final council hearing on the proposed advisory vote is scheduled for April 28 at 3 p.m. at the County-City Building, after which the council can make the resolution official and formally request the county auditor, who supervises elections, to put the measure on the ballot. The building, which would house 19 county departments and divisions, is being planned for a location in Tacoma that currently is the site of the former Puget Sound Hospital. County Executive Pat McCarthy proposed the building earlier this year and the council authorized the project to go forward. Since then, a group of citizens have launched an attempt to block it with a referendum, and that effort is being contested in a lawsuit filed by other citizens who contend the office project isn't subject to referendum opposition. McCarthy and other supporters of the building say it will save public funds by creating a "one-stop" setting for county services and ending the county's practice of leasing office space around the county.
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