Santa Cruz City Hall outgrowing existing offices; expansion sought

The city of Santa Cruz is outgrowing its City Hall space.

Five departments located within and nearby City Hall don’t have enough space to locate all staff together in a single area, city officials say. As a result,
work groups are being scattered throughout seven different buildings, and that’s causing issues with communications and workflow. It’s also made it
difficult to provide convenient and accessible customer service for the general public.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, staff will ask council members to authorize signing a lease with Ecology Action for transitional space at the nonprofit organization’s offices at 877 Cedar Street.

(Read the agenda report here.)

That’s where the city is seeking to temporarily move the finance department. Ecology action has 4,410 square feet of office space available, and it is in ready-to-move-in condition.

City staff will also ask the council to approve an increase in the amount of money being paid to a contractor to work on the eventual reorganization of City Hall. That cannot be done unless some of the offices are temporarily moved out, however.