Last Moving Experience : Staff Reaches Plaza Level in City Hall’s 3rd Move in 5 Years

Ed Johnduff paused in the lobby of Thousand Oaks’ soon-to-be City Hall, took in the hustling workers and the flying sawdust and nodded nonchalantly.

The building was nearly finished, on time and under budget. Johnduff, as project manager, was responsible. But he allowed himself only the barest flicker of a grin.

“No sweat,” he said and sauntered off.

Johnduff’s low-key demeanor stood out as a rare calm spot amid the flurry. Decked out in jeans and T-shirts, city staffers scurried about in a mad dash, eager to settle into their new digs before Monday’s 7 a.m. opening.

Here and there, they encountered a few glitches. The glass paneling was missing from one office. The electricity didn’t seem to be working in another. And a small hole gaped in the carpet by the Finance Department.

“We’ve got a few gremlins and ghosts running around,” acknowledged Gary Mintz, who handles the technical equipment for the Civic Arts Plaza’s two theaters. “A crossed wire here or there. But it’s all very minor stuff.”

Indeed, the missing glass and the unresponsive light bulbs hardly fazed a soul. Speaking for her co-workers, media services coordinator Caroline Milton vowed: “We’ll be ready, even if the building isn’t.”

To that end, scores of city employees planned to dedicate their weekend to the massive moving project. Downing apple juice and gobbling doughnuts for quick energy, they scurried about, looking for boxes and plants and photos.

Meanwhile, members of the city’s Personal Computer Task Force roamed the gleaming halls, hooking up monitors and flicking on printers. And a hired cleaning crew wearing yellow hard hats zipped through the offices, wiping up thick layers of dust.

“As you can see, everyone gets their hands dirty,” said treasury assistant Georgia Meyer, stacking folders in a friend’s office.

At least they have plenty of practice.

This weekend’s undertaking marked the third time in the past five years that city staffers have moved to a new government center.

In the first move, five years ago, city employees shifted a few blocks, from 401 to 2150 Hillcrest Drive, abandoning the building affectionately called the “eyebrow on the hill” in favor of an austere beige office complex near Rancho Conejo Industrial Park.

Three years later, the city sold the building at 2150 Hillcrest Drive to biotechnology giant Amgen and shipped belongings to 2400 Willow Lane.

“The joke is, if we ever get laid off, we can just get jobs as movers,” said one employee, who requested anonymity after divulging that she had found crusty old oatmeal glopped in the back of her file cabinet.

The current move will cost about $100,000--paid for with funds from the Civic Arts Plaza’s $63.8-million construction budget. And this time it’s for real.

“I wish people would stop saying this silliness that we have four city halls,” Mayor Alex Fiore said. “We have one City Hall.”

The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the government’s lone permanent home is scheduled for Tuesday evening, when Fiore will inaugurate the oak and russet-colored council chambers. The grand opening for the performing arts center will take place separately, with a gala show Oct. 21.

To liven up Tuesday’s ceremony, a motorcade carrying Thousand Oaks Little League baseball players--who won a world title in their age division this year--will participate in the ribbon-cutting at 4:55 p.m. After a brief speech, Fiore will knock his gavel on the sleek black podium and open the first Civic Arts Plaza council meeting.

Because the chamber doubles as a theater--”Man of La Mancha” opens there next weekend--it looks a good deal more imposing than the conference room used for council meetings at 2400 Willow Lane. Council members will sit on the stage, at a dais equipped with television monitors, and address a roomful of spectators in plush, rust-colored seats.

“It’ll be an interesting psychological change,” theater director Tom Mitze said.

In contrast to the formal meeting hall, each council member will have a small office, with an unglamorous view of the parking garage. For the first time, council members will also enjoy individual phone lines and answering machines at City Hall.

The $300,000 voice mail system hooks up to every extension in the building, so callers can leave messages for individual employees around the clock. “We think it will be a lot more efficient,” Assistant City Manger MaryJane Lazz said.

Along with the new phones, city staffers will enjoy a high-tech filing system designed to save space and time.

Instead of stacking files side by side on metal shelves, managers can stash them on a carousel inside a locked cabinet. To pull up a particular folder, they need only punch a button, and the carousel will rotate until the necessary information sits conveniently in front of the cabinet door.

Like the phones, the $170,000 filing system is paid for with funds from the Civic Arts Plaza construction budget.

To match the snazzy technology, new furniture will fill most City Hall offices--wooden bookcases, burgundy swivel chairs, gray cubicle partitions. Even the nicest accouterments, however, cannot make up for the drab views that several top managers have.

From his huge corner office, City Manager Grant Brimhall looks smack dab into the Yukon Belle bar and its parking lot full of motorcycles. It’s not quite as glamorous as the view of distant hillsides and gorgeous sunsets that he enjoyed in the first City Hall. But he’s found a way to make the most of it.

“The neat thing about my view is the renaissance you see occurring on the boulevard,” Brimhall said. “It’s not just a physical view--it’s almost a spiritual view. It transcends concrete and mortar, and it really talks about people, place, vision and opportunity.”

Gazing out toward the freeway spiraling past the Civic Arts Plaza’s shiny copper curtain, Brimhall added: “It’s a future even more exciting than anyone can visualize.”

FYI

Along with a new address--2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.--City Hall will have new phone numbers starting Monday. The main switchboard will be 449-2100. To hear a recorded message on how to obtain marriage licenses, call 449-2155; for passport information, call 449-2161. Other offices: city clerk, 449-2151; city manager, 449-2121; city attorney, 449-2170; planning, 449-2300; public works, 449-2400. For information about the new theaters, call 449-2700. To order tickets, call the box office at 449-2787.