Public Input Sought on Moving City Hall

Stung by the outcry last year over the possible sale of City Hall and adjacent Memorial Park to make way for a supermarket, city officials have decided to ask the public to help figure out how to expand its aging offices.

A series of workshops--the first set for 7 p.m. Sept. 14 in the council chambers--will involve city residents in seeking a solution to the problem.

The idea is to head off the dissension that occurred last year in the wake of closed-door talks city officials held to discuss the potential sale, said Public Works Director Norm Wilkinson.

“Our current city manager is not interested in that kind of criticism and I’m not either,” he said. “We’re trying to put forward a very [inclusive] process that lets everybody participate.”

The proposed sale of the park and City Hall was eventually abandoned because of residents’ objections. Albertsons is now exploring another downtown site for a new store, he said.

A proposal to purchase an existing downtown office building that could have served as City Hall also came to nothing.

But the options for resolving City Hall’s space crunch remain the same: construct a new building, purchase an existing one or remodel the present substandard structure yet again, Wilkinson said.

Parts of the 20,000-square-foot City Hall complex, which includes the Police Department and administrative offices, date back to the 1930s, Wilkinson said.

The complex has insufficient parking, does not meet earthquake standards and is overcrowded.

“I’ve got a trailer full of employees out there in a modular office and my office is in a hallway,” Wilkinson said. “We’ve got people in just about every corner we can put them in right now.”

He estimates the city needs about 35,000 square feet of space to accommodate its staff.