Chelan County's $8.7 million jail and courthouse plumbing overhaul is 70% done; jail kitchen reopens

WENATCHEE — Chelan County's $8.7 million project to replace the aging plumbing in the Law and Justice Building is about 70% complete and remains on schedule and on budget, with construction expected to wrap up in the first quarter of 2027, the county said.

Work started in March. The contractor began on the first floor of the five-story, 42-year-old building and has been moving up, said Brian Travis, the county's maintenance director. Crews are now working on the third and fourth floors of the jail, he said.

The contractor is replacing all domestic water and sanitary sewer lines and installing a water management system, stainless-steel fixtures in the jail and sensor valves in public areas.

To limit disruption on the fifth floor, which houses the Chelan County Prosecutor's Office, Superior Court and the county clerk, the heaviest work is done from 5 to 9 a.m. Visitors may still hear some construction noise, Travis said.

The project has already brought the Chelan County Regional Justice Center's kitchen back into service. Kitchen staff moved out in late February to a temporary kitchen in the jail's old annex and returned to the remodeled space in October.

The kitchen has new flooring and plumbing, new food-prep and dishwashing areas and new equipment. A wall was removed to give staff a better view of the space. The kitchen prepares two hot meals and a sack lunch each day for about 130 incarcerated people, with six to eight of them helping with meal preparation, according to the county.

"We are so happy to be back," said Joanne Richards, who leads food service with Theresa Gooch.

The project is being paid for entirely with real estate excise tax money. The tax is collected on property sales, and the county's share can be spent on capital projects.