The city of Maple Valley approved a sublease agreement with King County at the Aug. 22 meeting.

The sublease agreement will be for a 215-square-foot satellite station for the King County Sheriff’s Office in City Hall. The station will be used by nine patrol deputies and one patrol sergeant who will provide round the clock coverage of Maple Valley.

With the closure of the east precinct station in Maple Valley, the King County Sheriff’s Office has recently made sublease agreements with numerous contract cities, including Covington and Kenmore.

Maple Valley City Manager David Johnston sees it as the county’s way of reducing the effect of the station’s closure on the rural areas.

“I think the goal of the sheriff’s department is to make sure their patrol deputies will still be able to have a reasonable presence in the unincorporated areas,” Johnston said. “The only way they could ensure that is to have a decentralized approach, for them to have a base of operation.”

Though the sheriff’s office will open a new headquarters in Sammamish, Johnston said, it is impractical to have the deputies operate out of one headquarters.

“Because of the significant need to downsize due to budget constraints, it’s not feasible to have a centralized place for their deputies to go out from Sammamish,” Johnston said. “It’s not a good use of public resources.”

The sublease agreement will save the city an estimated $6,000 in contract costs with the county.