The City Council is convening at historic City Hall for the last time today, marking the end of an era of long — and often fierce — public debate at Stockton’s century-old headquarters on El Dorado Street.
Starting with the City Council’s July 7 meeting, the council, its committees and Stockton’s citizen boards and commissions will meet in new chambers at New City Hall on West Weber Avenue.
A last-minute special Audit Committee meeting — at 11 a.m. Wednesday — is scheduled at the city’s historic headquarters. But after tonight, full City Council meetings in the old pink-and-green chambers will be no more.
It’s a momentous shift for a city whose government has since the 1920s been based in the columned, Greco-Roman-style concrete and terracotta hall on the northern edge of downtown.
Old City Hall has stood through eras Stocktonians today would barely recognize: when the waterfront reached to where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza currently stands, and you could watch passing boats from City Hall’s steps; when the Stockton Police Department operated out of the building’s basement, with just 34 employees; when City Hall’s elevators were operated with an iron crank, and cutouts in the building’s walls provided ventilation in the absence of air conditioning.
In 2007, the City Council recognized that the growing city workforce needed a bigger home base. Historic City Hall also suffered from freezing winters, infrastructure unsuited for modern office equipment and asbestos, which made any potential renovations difficult.
That year, the city bought the former Washington Mutual building at 400 E. Main St. for $35 million, to serve as Stockton’s new headquarters. But in 2008 the financial crisis hit, and in 2012 Stockton declared bankruptcy, losing the building amid the fallout.
In 2017, city leaders proposed a Plan B: buy the Waterfront Towers at 501 West Weber Ave. for $13.6 million, with expected renovations worth $11.9 million. The City Council voted to buy the property.
Now, nearly a decade later, renovations at the towers are just finishing up, with the total cost likely around or exceeding $100 million — spending enabled by an obscure city policy that allows contracts to be increased significantly without public discussion or a council vote. Over time, that same policy raises the amount by which officials can increase contracts behind-the-scenes.
After that saga, the limbo that elected officials, city employees and the public experienced while waiting for New City Hall is over.
With it, decades of work at historic City Hall — by numerous city managers, over 50 mayors, scores of councilmembers and hundreds of employees and members of the public — is also coming to an end.
“I have memories of being a high school kid and going to council meetings for school,” said Councilmember Michael Blower, who represents District 3. Blower was sworn into office for the first time in 2016 at historic City Hall, he said.
Leaving is “kind of a sad feeling. I mean, that’s been a special building in our community for a hundred years,” he said.
In a statement, Councilmember Brando Villapudua reflected on what the building represents.
“For nearly a century, this building has witnessed the decisions, debates, challenges and victories that have shaped our city,” he said. “It has stood as a symbol of local government and public service, reminding us that leadership is not measured by titles, but by our commitment to the people we serve.”
For City Clerk Katherine Roland — who, in addition to being responsible for recording all City Council actions and meetings, the City Charter deems the custodian of all “archives belonging to the City” — leaving historic City Hall feels “wistful.”
“It’s kinda like moving away from home,” she said.
As a newer, larger building with improved public access, New City Hall definitely represents “better digs,” and Roland is excited to work there, she said.
Still, leaving the old building feels bittersweet. “It’s going to be strange to turn the lights off,” she said.