City Nears Renovation to First Floor

By Skip Descant

Posted: November 27, 2009 at 4:27 a.m.

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By J.T. Wampler
Annette Jarnagan, customer service representative at the Fayetteville water department, works Tuesday in the recently remodeled portion of City Hall. Fayetteville city services such as human resources or parking have been placed on the first floor of City Hall. The remodel is designed improve circulation and cluster resident services in one location.

FAYETTEVILLE — Signing up for water service, applying for a city job or checking on the cost of contract parking spaces in city lots just got easier.

Or at least more convenient.

“We’re trying to group anything that had public service on the first floor,” said Don Marr, Mayor Lioneld Jordan’s chief of staff. “We want to improve the impressions of people coming in.”

Maintenance crews are putting finishing touches on a reorganization of the first floor of City Hall. Departments like parking and human resources moved out of the basement to the first floor.

The large central staircase leading to the basement has been removed, allowing for a public lobby space in front of the relocated water department’s billing division.

These moves were possible after making some changes to the Fayetteville Planning Division building two doors down the street. The building permit department was moved to that building, grouping together all of the planning and building offices.

“We want to spread our customers out for their comfort and safety,” said Paul Becker, finance director.

Another big change to City Hall is the expansion of Room 111, which was a tiny conference room. The space is about double its original size and is wired for video and audio recording.

“We want as many as possible of the evening meetings there on the first floor,” Becker said. Many public meetings have been held in a meeting room on the third floor, commonly known as Room 326.

“We often have late-night meetings,” Marr added. “We wanted to create another room. We’re trying to expand Room 111 into more of a (Room) 326. We’re still going to use 326, but we want to steer them toward 111.”

The improvements — begun in August — were paid for primarily through the building’s maintenance fund, and cost approximately $18,700, Becker said. Retrofitting the planning building cost another $6,700, with nearly all of the work handled in-house, he added.

Most departments are settling into their new offices with little disruption.

“Only a couple of carpets that had some pretty large, obvious stains were replaced and there was a fresh coat of paint,” said Missy Leflar, human resources director, describing the improvements to the department’s new first-floor office. “We did want the HR department to look professional, as it is the place that job applicants get a first impression of the city as a potential place to come to work.”

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