ITHACA, N.Y. — The Tompkins County legislature took another step in their plans to build a Center of Government earlier this week when they approved what county departments would be housed in the building slated for the 300 block of North Tioga Street in the City of Ithaca.
A total of 16 departments will be consolidated into the new center of government building. The building is currently planned to have 55,000 square feet of space, and has an estimated cost of $40 million to build. The plans, detailed at Tuesday’s Tompkins County Legislature meeting, also call for renovations to the Old Jail Building (125 E. Court St.) and the Daniel D. Tompkins Building (121 E. Court St.) so they are able to house larger offices and more county workers.
The center of government building will include offices for the Assessment Department, Board of Elections, County Attorney, County Clerk, District Attorney, Finance Department, Human Resources, IT services, Office for the Aging, the Office of Human Rights, Veterans Services and Workforce Development. There will also be storage space for voting machines.
The Old Jail building will undergo renovations to create more room for the Department of Planning and Sustainability, the Ithaca Tompkins County Transportation Council, and the Assigned Counsel program. The Daniel D. Tompkins building will be renovated to include a community meeting room and offices for staff and county legislators.
The resolution approved by the legislature Tuesday also enables the county to sell the Human Services Annex building once the center of government is completed. The Human Services Annex building, located at 214-216 West State Street, currently houses the Office for the Aging and the Office of Veterans Services.
Legislator Randy Brown, chair of the Downtown Facilities Special Committee (DSFC), said the group will be specifying the request for qualifications it will publish that will solicit architects and engineering firms to prepare schematic designs for the center of government project at the DFSC’s next meeting in March.
Legislator Lee Shurtleff noted the potential for differences between what the county had planned to spend on the project and how much the price quotes would actually be when submitted by the consultants, though other legislators noted that they could still pause or cancel the project if the prices prove too burdensome.
“No money has been committed to the project yet,” Brown said. “We may go through this whole process and find that the building is more than we want to spend, but then we’d have to make that decision [as a legislature].”
Legislator Shawna Black said she is “concerned” about whether or not the center of government plan would exacerbate parking problems considering the number of people that would now work in the 300 block of North Tioga Street, not to mention the people who would be coming to the location for services.
“If we’re saying that this is a place where people can go to get services, they shouldn’t have to park six blocks away, especially if they’re coming for the Office of the Aging or they have a disability,” Black added.
This led to a brief discussion about parking strategies, with Legislator Greg Mezey floating the idea of non-surface level parking, such as constructing some space for parking beneath the ground.
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