Vote NO AND Get Public Safety Facilities We Need

In retrospect, the path to achieving modern public safety facilities in Puyallup is more simple than city leaders imagined. Our research suggests a better path forward than the latest boondoggle they put on the ballot, and it can be done in short order without raising taxes:

1. In 2024, renovate the first floor of city hall to become public administrative offices for our police department. Cost is just $450,000 according to the city’s current plan. This could have been done anytime in the past decade. Instead, this easy expansion project was withheld from our police department and instead was used as a carrot for voters to approve an unnecessary jail.
2. With most police department administrative offices moved to the first floor of city hall, open up space in the current police building for additional patrol officer working areas and detective unit space to support priorities like crime investigation. The fire department is even moving out soon since we recently passed a bond to build them a new station a few blocks away, so there will be a lot of space to spread out.
3. Hire professionals to negotiate an inter-local agreement with our county jail, including independent feasibility study to determine potential savings there and with other regional jails like Nisqually. As part of the agreement, secure positions in the low risk/misdemeanor side of our county jail for Puyallup Corrections Officers who want to work there. Outfit a van for remaining corrections officers to transport inmates, just like how surrounding towns and cities operate.
4. In 2025, if savings from the transition to our county jail are the approx $1 million/year we estimate, use the savings to finance a second police precinct and court facility above the lahar zone. After city hall is paid off, use that opening in the budget for other infrastructure priorities like traffic reductions, finishing sidewalks, sponsoring community attractions, helping make housing affordable, and other improvements for a better quality of life. If transition to using our county jail for misdemeanor inmates is a financial “wash” as city council members claim, then as city hall is paid off, replace that expiring councilmanic bond by issuing a new one for a second police precinct and court facility above the lahar zone.

Contributors to Puyallup Voters for Integrity would like to thank everyone who has participated in the debate over how to improve public safety facilities in Puyallup. We all want the same things: crime reduction, improved safety, and a better quality of life. The debate over how to achieve these goals is the beauty of a healthy democracy, where we don’t hope to be “right” as much as to find a “third way” that’s better than what was initially proposed. Let’s avoid boondoggles, and instead, work toward public projects that are pragmatic and effective, fiscally responsible, and what everyone in Puyallup – voters as well as people in positions of power – can all support together.

Please consider a donation of any amount, and invite your friends to like our Facebook page. Sponsored by Puyallup Voters for Integrity, PO Box 42, Puyallup WA 98371. No candidate or party contributes to, authorizes or controls this Political Action Committee which is registered at the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission. 2025 campaign season contributors over the $100 threshold so far include Chris Chisholm, PV4I Treasurer. When facts are presented, we want them to be accurate. If you find any errors, please email us with original-source evidence for correction.correction.