A New Seat Of City Government

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- City Hall at One Technology Center hits a milestone Monday.  That milestone is the move of the city council offices and the opening of the public counter inside the new building. 

As of Monday, almost all city government business will happen at 2nd and Cincinnati, instead of the old city hall.

The last boxes are stacked in the halls.  The flags are wrapped up for moving.  The pictures are coming down and the building is almost empty of employees.

Tulsa City Council staffer Nathan Brown, one of the last workers in the building, is about to move out.

"The amount of coffee mugs we've collected over the years is surprising to me personally," said Nathan Brown.

The move was carefully staged to prevent disruption, and took much of the summer.  The city council is the last department to go.

"We have some old furniture, that's about it," said Nathan Brown.

Over at the new Tulsa City Hall, on a new public entrance was constructed on the 2nd Street side.  It's supposed to be done by Monday morning.

Work is continuing on parts of the new city hall, including the public area where people can come to pay their traffic tickets or utility bills.

"Just about everything has moved over to One Technology Center," said John Durkee with the City of Tulsa.

City spokesman John Durkee says the most complicated part of the move was trying to keep government going with parts of it in two different buildings.

"There's been a little bit of chaos, not a lot.  There's been some of the 'I need to go to this meeting, wait it's at the old city hall,'" said John Durkee.

More than a thousand city employees now walk in the doors of One Technology Center to work.  As of Monday, city staff will have finished the transition to a new seat of municipal government in Tulsa.

There is plenty of public parking around and near the building.  Some of it is in paid parking lots and some of it is on meters just as it was at the old city hall.