Months after Juneau voters shot down a proposal to build a new city hall – for the second year in a row – city officials are beginning to reckon with the need to find new office space.
City Manager Katie Koester said finding a place to rent that would consolidate all city functions would likely help both city staff and the public.
“If there’s a way that we can consolidate those public-facing departments to make it a little bit less of a rabbit trail for the public to try to pay their bills and get their permits and get their pool pass, that’s the focus that we will be having,” she said.
City Hall holds fewer than half of the city’s employees. This fall, the city unsuccessfully sought approval from voters to fund a new city hall through a $27 million bond. That building would have housed all city employees.
At a committee meeting Monday night, the Juneau Assembly directed city staff to find out what spaces the city could rent to house the 60% of its staff that cannot fit in City Hall. Right now, those employees work in four rented office spaces in buildings downtown – the Marine View building, Municipal Way building, Sealaska Plaza and the Seadrome building. It costs about $823,000 each year to rent those facilities.
The Municipal Way building lease ends in June 2028 following its purchase by the Sealaska Heritage Institute. The lease for the Marine View building is set to expire this summer. The city could renew it, but Koester said the space has problems.
“It’s just — it’s been a challenging lease, and we’ve had some violations because of the water issues and just substandard space for employees,” she said.
The city is looking at three scenarios for renting space. The first would be a space large enough to fit all city employees, along with a space for the Assembly chambers. The second would be to find a space to consolidate all employees who can’t fit in City Hall now. The last option would be to find enough space for only the employees in the Marine View Building.
Koester said staff will share the results of the search with the Assembly in the coming months. She said it will also likely inform how the city should invest in the current city hall, which is estimated to require upwards of $14 million in repairs and maintenance to continue operating.
