Lewis County has started construction on a long-discussed project to rebuild a law enforcement presence on the east end of the county.
Sheriff Rob Snaza, County Commissioner Scott Brummer and County Manager Ryan Barrett broke ground in ceremonial fashion Oct. 9 on a new substation for the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
The substation is being built at 8911 U.S. Highway 12, between Glenoma and Randle, on property already owned by the county on Kiona Road.
The project will cost up to $300,000 and is funded with money from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund. The fund was created by the American Rescue Plan.
The structure is 12 feet wide by 36 feet long and will include four car bays. According to a Lewis County news release, the structure will be completed by the spring and will be staffed by “support staff several days a week.”
“I’m excited to be here and break ground on a great facility that the sheriff’s department will be able to use to keep the residents of east Lewis County safe,” Brummer said in the news release. “We support our law enforcement, our sheriff and all of our deputies that are out here keeping us safe and we want them to have the best facilities possible.”
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office previously operated a substation 20 miles up U.S. Highway 12 in Packwood. The substation was open two days a week but closed in September 2018 as a cost-cutting measure. At the time, the services offered at the substation were transferred to the Law and Justice Center in Chehalis.
While running for re-election last year, Sheriff Rob Snaza said the closure was “not by choice, that was by need," according to previous Chronicle reporting.
At the groundbreaking, Snaza said the work to reopen the station was “in the process for over six years.”
Snaza appears excited for the new substation.
“It will place a sheriff’s footprint in the east end of the county, housing emergency equipment for deputies and first responders providing search and rescue operations,” Snaza said in the release. “Citizens will be able to meet with deputies and receive law enforcement resources in East County that are currently offered at the Law and Justice Center in Chehalis.”
