Tompkins County unveils Center of Government plans

Tompkins County officials and elected leaders presented their vision for a consolidated complex of government offices at a special community engagement meeting on July 28.

During the center of government project presentation, consultants outlined the results of community input, presented shades of potential aesthetic character for the facade of the government services campus, and spoke about the project’s sustainability goals. 

The project will occupy the 300 block of North Tioga Street and will likely begin construction in early 2027. County legislators said they expect county offices to move into the new building by the end of 2028. After decades of discussion, county officials say they are ready to tear down three old buildings to construct a 48,000-square-foot, four-story Center of Government.

The $50 million project, however, was received with mixed results by members of the public. A few of the residents who spoke against the project highlighted the Center of Government’s hefty price tag at a time when the county is struggling to provide services to residents and faces a difficult financial forecast for the next year.

“I understand [$50] million on a brand-new building is really exciting, but it’s not too late,” said Amanda Kirchgessner, a resident of the town of Ulysses who spoke against the project at the meeting. “Public safety desperately needs these dollars. We need to address the public health crisis in the county before we spend money on a building.” 

Zach Winn, who opposes the proposed project, said that the county could stand to be more fiscally responsible. 

Winn, a fixture of conservative politics in the county and a candidate for an Ithaca Common Council seat, said he recently read comments from Legislature Chair Dan Klein, who noted that the county could face an $11 million budget deficit in the next year. Klein told local radio station WHCU on July 28 that the county indeed faced such a revenue shortfall ahead of the 2026 budget year.

Proponents of the project in the county legislature said that the building would alleviate several issues for county employees. Legislature Chair Klein, D-LD-7, also noted that the county needs to move away from its current office building, given that the state has requested the county find a new place. Klein represents the towns of Danby and Caroline, and a portion of the town of Ithaca.

“New York state is kicking us out of the county courthouse. The district attorney’s offices are in there, and the county clerk’s offices are in there, and we must vacate that building, so we need to put them somewhere,” Klein said. “We have about 800 employees. … I’m responsible to those 800 employees to provide them a decent place to work. A lot of the work spaces of our county employees are subpar. They are overcrowded and outdated, and I unapologetically think that we owe them better.”

Regarding the project, consultants said in their presentation that they hope they can address some of the biggest challenges currently plaguing government services. Quay Thompson of HOLT Architects, a firm working on the project, said that the two barriers to service listed most frequently by survey respondents were parking and difficulty finding the building. These challenges were offered by residents as part of a survey organized by consultants. 

As for amenities, residents would most like to see included rooms for community activities, meeting rooms and training rooms. Additionally, Thompson noted, residents want public computers so they can fill out government forms and register for services.

Residents also said in the survey that they want to see a “one-stop” type of service desk that can help them complete forms. Additionally, Thompson said, most survey respondents said they want a balance of ease of access and enhanced security at the potential new complex.

Most survey respondents said they would like the exterior of the buildings to have historic features but be made with contemporary materials, Thompson added.

Regarding sustainability, Thompson said that the intent is to eliminate on-site fossil fuels. 

“This will be an all-electric building, and a big part of the all-electric portion is the use of geothermal heating and cooling for the project,” he added. “We’ve done some preliminary energy modeling on our site for our building footprint and volume, and we believe that we will be able to achieve a 44% reduction in the use of energy. That will equate to about $34,000 per year savings just in energy alone.”

The county is set to host one more public outreach meeting in September. The goal of that meeting is to capture residents’ feedback on the project’s proposed final design.. The meeting will feature a final comment section, a metric to measure endorsement level from residents and a list of minor tweaks provided by residents as completion on the project’s design.