If you get claustrophobic in tight working situations, you might consider running for the Salt Lake City Council.
When the city moves up the street into the renovated City-County Building next year, the majority of city employees will have work stations that's a fancy name for cubicles consisting of 75 to 81 square feet of space.But on the ceremonial third floor, plans now call for the seven part-time City Council members to have 103 square feet of space to call their own, according to Linda Allred, of Scott, Louie & Browning, who is director of interior design for the building.
Some City Council members say the plans allocate them enough space, but they need more privacy. Now their planned space includes three private offices for their staff and three conference rooms, while the council itself would work out of cubicles.
The council will hold a special meeting at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday in Ensign Elementary School, 775 12th Ave., to discuss space-distribution plans. The council was presented several different options to carve seven private offices out of the building two weeks ago, with construction price tags ranging for $2,000 to $10,000, but were unable to reach a decision.
Each option has some drawbacks, with the council offices split up on two different floors, or having the offices two floors away from their staff and public reception space. Mayor Palmer DePaulis, who has the final say on any building plans, warns if the council robs any more space from other city departments, more employees would have to work outside the building. That would mean the city's annual leasing bill would be higher.
The seven elected officials and their six employees would now be housed in the north quadrant of the building. Anchoring the floor on the south end will be the mayor's office, with 29 employees.
The city's other 208 employees to work in the City-County Building will be split among the three remaining floors. The county, which claimed half the building before constructing a modern office complex, will still lease the first floor.
On the fourth floor, more than double the amount of city workers 87 will be crammed into the same space now planned for just the 42 employees of the council and the mayor's offices.
The space planned for the elected officials calls for a lot of reception and public space. That's why DePaulis says you could shoot off a cannon on the expansive floor and be unlikely to hit anybody.
Allred has worked on the project since last October. She said more than 50 percent of city administrators who have gotten used to the luxury of private offices in the temporary City Hall, the CFS Building, at 324 S. State, will have to give them up after the move.