AUBURN – Roland Miller’s circa-1930s solid oak desk, like most of the furniture in the Auburn City Building, will not make the trip to Auburn Hall.

That’s a sad thing for Miller, the city’s economic development director.

“I love my desk,” he said. “I love the space, and I love how solid it is. I love being able to fit an entire map on it.”

It’s an imposing piece of office furniture, one he salvaged from a scrap heap 25 years ago. But it’s old and the finish has worn off in many places. He’d like to find a way to keep it, when he moves.

The problem is, the desk doesn’t work well with Miller’s computer – and that’s equally important for his job. He had to squeeze an old table into his office for the computer, sacrificing two drawers on the left side of his desk in the process. There just isn’t room to open them any more.

Like the rest of Auburn’s city staff, Miller will be making do with more modern equipment when he moves to the new offices in Auburn Hall in September. The entire city will make the switch from desks and drawers to office cubicles and modular furniture.

“It’s the kind of thing people that read Dilbert’ are familiar with – the cubicle,” said City Manager Pat Finnigan. “There’s nothing fancy to it. It’s just simple, utilitarian furniture.”

Outfitting the new building won’t come cheap. Original bids for the new furniture came in at $438,000, but staff has whittled that price down – swapping cloth seats on some chairs for molded plastic and one kind of cubicle upholstery for a cheaper variety. The city has budgeted $350,000 for furniture and Finnigan said they’re trying to come in below that.

Durable, modern

It won’t be easy, she said. For example, new chairs for the City Council chambers need to be comfortable and durable. Those chairs will cost the city about $100 each and the chambers will need at least 100 of them.

“We using bonds, payable over 10 years,” Finnigan said. “But the chairs, all the furniture, has to last a lot longer than that. This is a centennial project, and we have to have furniture that’s going to last.”

Another cost is in the cubicles themselves. Each work station is individually wired for electricity, computers and phone service. That’s a cost plain desks don’t have.

“Ideally, I guess this cost should be included as part of the construction,” she said. “When we wire the work stations, we don’t have to run wire through all of the walls.”

Furniture costs also include tables and chairs for at least five smaller meeting rooms in the new building. The current city building has one board room and the council chambers, which can be divided with a curtain. The new building has six board rooms.

“We do not have the furniture to fill all of them,” she said. “One of the things we don’t have in Auburn is meeting space for small groups, and now we will. But we have to furnish them.”

Staff is reviewing the existing furniture to see which pieces will make the trip, Finnigan said. Most of the large filing cabinets, lateral files and some book cases should go, she said. She expects staff to settle the furniture question in two weeks.

Miller assumes that only his lateral file and a small bookcase will make the move. Come September, he’ll be working on laminated composite wood and metal. But at least the drawers will open, he said.