Spokane Valley moved into their new city hall in September 2017 and quickly noticed something was wrong.
It was for three more years until they officially filed a lawsuit against the contractors; Spokane Valley reported cracks in the building and even walls starting to sink.
City Council agenda documents show the city estimates to have spent $6 million on legal fees and repairs. The case isn’t expected to hit court for another year.
“I think we could have done better from the very beginning,” Councilmember Al Merkel said. “In some ways you might say the foundation of the whole city has started to wear some cracks as a whole.”
City documents show Spokane Valley budgeted $6.1 million for the overall project to fix the building and seek reimbursement from the contractors.
“It looks like the city is going to be requesting even more funds for more lawyers to keep prosecuting this idea,” Merkel said. “Ultimately, the taxpayers will have to bear a lot of this cost.”
All parties are discussing a potential settlement; however, the details are sealed behind private conversations in executive session, according to the city.
Merkel opposed the City Hall project years before his recent bid to city council. He considered it an “exuberant waste of money” – a statement he still upholds. Merkel believes the problem too needs to be solved at a foundation level. Most namely, how the city negotiates and manages contracts.
“The city was quoted in the spokesman review for saying the contractor didn’t document compaction records for that area,” Merkel said. “Seems like the kind of question you would ask during construction.”
Councilmember Merkel has not been briefed on the ongoing litigation or topic since taking office in 2024, according to Spokane Valley Public Information Officer Jill Smith. Merkel echoed those comments, pointing toward being ‘left out’ of the process.
“Any comments he has made are his own opinion and not the views of the City or the City Council, nor based on the factual history of this case,” Smith wrote NonStop Local in an email. “The City is actively working to recoup taxpayer’s dollars associated with this project. Mediation is scheduled in late October/early November. As we are in active litigation, we are unable to provide more details at this time.”
