Engineering technicians Steve Wadleigh, left, and Earl Lighthill help customers in Medford’s engineering department, housed in a crowded temporary building in the City Hall parking lot. City staff members are hoping to persuade the council that more space is needed. (Mail Tribune / Jim Craven)

Medford city staff members say space in City Hall is getting so cramped that even residents are feeling the pinch.

"We have nowhere to sit down and interview victims of crimes," said Medford Police Chief Eric Mellgren. Detectives sometimes have to interview victims in patrol cars because of the lack of space, he said.

"I have had vacancies that I have kept vacant because I have nowhere for them to sit," said Cory Crebbin, public works director. Visitors to the engineering department have a 5-by-8-foot space to present their plans to city staff.

Among the options city staff presented to the council Wednesday: building one or two floors atop the Lausmann Annex at a cost of $4.5 million to $6.2 million, and remodeling the vacant Carnegie building at a cost of about $1.1 million.

The expansion could be funded by leasing or selling the Carnegie building or borrowing from city funds, staff members said.

Officials also are considering combining the planning, building and public works departments to provide applicants with a one-stop process for review of proposed developments.

When City Hall was dedicated in 1966, it was designed to serve a city with a population of 25,000 and a staff of 90. Officials planned a separate police department at the corner of 10th and Ivy streets.

In 1997, work began on the Lausmann Annex, a two-story, $3.9 million, 27,000-square-foot building. At that time, Medford's population was about 57,000 and about 100 of the city's 375 workers moved into the annex.

In 2001, the public works engineering staff moved into two 1,740-square-foot temporary "modular units," which take up a portion of the City Hall parking lot. Medford's 2004 population was 69,220, and currently 268 of the city's 453 staff members work in City Hall, the annex and modular buildings. The remaining city employees work at the water reclamation division, the city service center, the fire departments and the Santo Community Center.

In 2004, the City Council approved a $7.5 million, 30,000-square-foot police headquarters at 10th and Ivy streets south of the post office, pending the assignment of funding. But the project was delayed in 2005 because of rising Public Employee Retirement System costs for city retiree plan payments. Mellgren said there has been no further discussion of a police headquarters building.

Judy Hardin, development services support technician in public works, said she hoped more space could be created. If she's looking up documents in a file cabinet in the hallway and someone wants to walk by, someone's got to move, she said.

"It's quite crowded," she said.

Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail mlanders@mailtribune.com.