“Voters have a right to expect the highest level of financial accountability on major public construction projects,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine, chair of the Council’s Capital Budget Committee. “This contract will protect taxpayers by giving the Council early warning of any problems so that we can act to ensure construction is completed on time and within budget.”

The Council today authorized the Council Chair to enter into a $30,000 contract with the property management firm of Jones Lang LaSalle for financial oversight of the Ninth and Jefferson Building, a 14-story building on the southeast corner of Ninth Avenue and Jefferson Street that will provide space for the King County Medical Examiner, research laboratories and other services. It is one of several Harborview projects authorized by King County voters in 2000 through a $191 million bond issue.

“When cost overruns put funding of the taxpayer-approved Harborview capital projects in peril, the Council exercised our oversight responsibility to help bring this important work back on track,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “Bringing in expert financial oversight to scrutinize completion of the Harborview Ninth and Jefferson building will safeguard our taxpayers’ investment.”

The Jones Lang LaSalle proposal was the unanimous choice of a County review committee. Jones Lang LaSalle is an international real estate services firm with offices in Seattle. The firm’s work will be supervised by the King County Auditor, an independent agency of the King County Council.

The County Council mandated independent financial oversight of major capital construction projects as part of a public-private partnership funded last November in the 2007 “Priorities for People” King County Budget. The goal of the program is to earn public trust by avoiding project overruns and unforeseen expansion of project scopes, schedules and budgets.