Marquee assessment on the horizon

It took three votes for the Port Orchard City Council to decide once and for all to try to save the city’s downtown marquee. Now its future is in the hands of the council’s Public Property Committee.

The committee, chaired by Carolyn Powers along with Bob Geiger and John Clauson, met Tuesday morning to discuss the first steps in retaining and repairing the decades-old structure.

“At the last council meeting, the council authorized us to have (Port Orchard Public Works Director Maher Abed) look for consultants to do a structural analysis of the marquee,” Powers explained.

Powers was quick to note that the analysis was only an assessment, not a solution.

“The consultant will tell us what the damage is and where, what the inherent problems are in the structure as it now exists and whether they can be fixed,” Powers said. “It’s not to solve the problem. It’s not to tell us how to fix anything. It’s an assessment.”

Powers said the committee is looking at the marquee in terms of what it can do in the short term as well as the long term.

“The next step will be to determine where we go from here,” Powers said. “We didn’t want to do anything until we had a clear idea of exactly what we were dealing with.”

Powers said the committee will most likely choose a contractor next week and request permission from the council at its next meeting Sept. 12.

“We’re trying to get something together for the next council meeting,” Powers said. “I’m committed to getting this issue resolved.”

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