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Glendale council members question placement of mayor and council offices in new City Hall
Summary
Council members debated office placement in the new downtown building, with some objecting to council offices on the garden level and others defending the layout as improving municipal operations; staff offered to brief members on programming choices and cost implications.
Glendale City Council members spent substantial time at the Aug. 26 workshop debating where council and mayoral offices will sit in the city's new downtown facility, with several members pressing staff for rationale and others defending the design as a deliberate choice to improve departmental function.
At issue was a plan that places council offices on the garden (lower) level while grouping public‑facing functions — the one‑stop service center, clerk’s office and payment center — on higher levels and the entry sequence. Councilmember Guzman said she and some colleagues were not consulted about office locations and described the garden level as feeling like a "basement" based on renderings. "It's the basement. And looking at the rendering on page 22 ... it looks to me like a lot like a dungeon," Guzman said.
Staff responded that the building program was developed through a year of operational study and was intended to concentrate day‑to‑day public service functions together so residents and staff would not have to traverse many floors during transactions. "We wanted to have those departments that relate to day‑to‑day operations separated not by more than one floor," a staff member said, urging a one‑on‑one briefing to walk council through the programming logic.
Other council members voiced differing views. Councilmember Tomlachoff and others argued the layout improved customer service and staff coordination and said they would not trade employee operational efficiency for council member views. Councilmember Milner urged the council to consider accessibility and security questions tied to mayoral suites and private offices.
Questions raised included whether council members could move their offices after the design has been set, the budget implications of relocating suites, restroom and conference room access, and whether staff had solicited council input during design. Staff said they would schedule a detailed briefing to show the programming rationales and the functional needs — for example, separate employee entrances and privacy for human resources functions — and to explain the cost and schedule impacts of reassigning spaces.
No formal decision was made at the workshop; staff committed to provide a follow‑up briefing that will review floor assignments, security and cost implications and allow council members to identify any changes they wish to pursue.
