Cosmopolis voters will get a chance to weigh in on the construction of a new $3 million municipal building to house City Hall, the municipal court and the police department in the general election Nov. 5.

The City Council passed an ordinance July 29 to submit a proposal to the voters authorizing the city to “issue its general obligation bonds in a principal amount not to exceed $3 million to finance the costs of acquiring, constructing, and equipping a new municipal building.”

The police department has been housed in a modular building donated by the Weyerhaeuser Foundation when the mill shut down in 2006. City Hall is located next to the police department in what used to be a bank. Court proceedings andv city council meetings take place in the nearby fire station, the most modern city building and one that has had to take on many uses due to the lack of adequate space for other city business.

The ordinance – Ordinance 1337 – reads in part, “the best interests of the City of Cosmopolis and its residents require the city to acquire, construct, and equip a new municipal building, located on the site of the current police station at 1312 First Street, to house the city’s police department, municipal court and City Hall services.”

The project would provide about 8,800 square feet of usable space to house all of those functions, according to the ordinance.

The principal and interest of the general obligation funds would mature in 20 years and be paid out of annual property tax levies on properties within the city. The cost to property owners was not outlined in the ordinance.