Tracy’s new $26 million City Hall on Civic Center Plaza opened for business Monday, conjuring delight from city officials and contempt from project opponents.

A grand opening will be announced when landscaping and other work is finished, according to city spokesman Matt Robinson.

A bus stop, a water fountain, gardens and an amphitheatre will be added in the coming weeks.

On Monday, the smell of fresh paint and the sound of power tools filtered through the hallways, and the main entrance remained locked.

“There are no signs up to tell anybody where everything is,” grumbled a woman as she turned circles beneath the foyer’s 35-foot ceiling.

Next to the foyer, the wood-paneled council chambers are expected to be ready for a council meeting in May.

Robinson said the chamber, which has seating for 150 audience members and for two more elected officials than the five that already serve on City Council, would be used for meetings of city committees as well as for regular council meetings.

All the meetings will be broadcast on Channel 26 to Tracy homes and on a big screen in an upstairs overflow room, which will double as a conference room, according to Robinson.

Workers in a temporary office Monday helped newly moved city employees overcome “phone glitches,” as city manager Dan Hobbs described them.

Hobbs beamed with satisfaction in his roomy, second-story corner office Monday morning, praising employees in the Department of Public Works who worked around the clock over the weekend to ready the building for their colleagues.

Hobbs said city employees were “tickled to death” after they shifted from the overcrowded South Tracy Boulevard annex and from 35-year-old digs next door.

About 60 city employees have joined Tracy’s elected treasurer and clerk in the new building.

Neither the former City Hall nor the annex will be shut down. About 35 employees will move into the old City Hall after it is refurbished, leaving 140 employees in the annex — down from 185.

Hobbs said employees would be happier and more efficient in the new building.

City planners who had formerly been cramped in the city’s annex building now have room to roll out blueprints, and their customer service desk is next to the finance department’s service desk — instead of halfway across town.

“These employees deserve it,” Hobbs said. “I never heard a complaint about their working conditions — and they had every reason to complain.”

Hobbs said he wanted to move city employees into the new building as soon as possible, in part because the old building’s air conditioning broke down last year.

But the decision hardly sat well with Councilwoman Irene Sundberg, who has consistently voted against the project because of concerns about its cost.

“I’m extremely concerned about the safety, health and welfare of our employees there,” Sundberg said Monday. “The building is not finished.”

Robinson said a temporary occupancy permit for City Hall was issued after four city departments inspected the building, including the fire department.

Sundberg’s political ally, Celeste Garamendi, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2006, criticized the ballooning cost of the project, which in the early 1990s was estimated at $13 million.

Garamendi said the money should have been spent instead on such projects as the sports fields, on the environmental cleanup of the downtown Bow-Tie area and to beef up city departments, such as police and code enforcement.

“I think it’s an extravagance,” Garamendi said, “and it shows the City Council has its priorities misplaced.”

Mayor Brent Ives, who helped oversee the project during his entire 16 years on council, defended its cost, saying it was built under budget and “came out just like we wanted it.”

“I think that’s the kind of facility that Tracyites expect now from this city,” Ives said.

City officials began plotting to build a new city hall 18 years ago. Since then, they raised $22 million in developer fees to fund much of it.

City Finance Director Zane Johnston said costs for the project increased over time in part because of inflation, and he said the city was required by law to spend the $22 million in developer fees on a city hall, since it was collected for that purpose.

“The choice is, do I spend the money on City Hall or give it back to developers,” Johnston said. “There is no third choice allowed by law.”

Garamendi said the council should have chosen to allocate the money toward other projects as it was collected between 1993 and 2006. She also criticized the council for dipping into the city’s general fund to finish the project.

Edge Development will charge the city $21.6 million, having submitted the only bid to build it. The bid was accepted by a 4-1 council vote in July 2005, with Sundberg dissenting.

Construction management, architectural services and other costs took the project to $25.7 million.

In addition, city employees arrived at work Monday to brand new computers and $550,000 worth of brand new furniture.

Local businessman Craig Dander on March 14 said his company was not invited to bid to provide the furniture, though he attended pre-bid meetings.

“We never miss an opportunity to bid on city, county, state, federal or military installation projects,” Dander said. “I take issue with the lack of transparency in the decision-making process and the absence of good communication along the way.”

Johnston said a committee of senior employees toured furniture manufacturers before recommending the council choose Steelcase as the preferred furniture manufacturer. The decision was based on Steelcase’s quality, aesthetics and versatility.

Johnston said Seal Furniture was chosen to supply the Steelcase furniture under a competitive pricing structure negotiated by the National League of Cities, and that no local furniture suppliers stock Steelcase.

City Hall was originally expected to open in mid-January.

To reach reporter John Upton, call 830-4274 or e-mail jupton@tracypress.com.