The Austin City Council approved architectural services Monday for a city hall remodel project, which will come after Austin Utilities moves out.

The city is working with Zenk Read Trygstad and Associates (ZRT) from Albert Lea and Director of Administrator Services Tom Dankert said they proposed the cost of the project not to exceed $48,000.

The business has worked with ZRT twice, once on a past Austin-Mower County Area Transit — which is now SMART Transit — facility remodel. Final plans still need to be completed so the project can be sent out for bids.

Austin Utilities will move this spring and summer from its current space at City Hall to a new $18 million administrative facility near Todd Park. That will free up space in City Hall to remodel and move other city offices.

Preliminary plans call to move the city clerk and council offices into Austin Utilities’s current space. Then Parks and Rec would move into the city clerk and council offices space.

The council has funds set aside in the Building Fund for 2016 and 2017, but Dankert said once the city has a final budget estimate from ZRT, it would look at re-allocating the Building Fund or a transfer of the General Fund fund balance to help offset the estimated increased costs.

Austin Utilities leaders have also said the city could reuse whatever office equipment is left behind, such as desks and overhead bins. But Dankert said the interior state contractor came down and noticed some of the equipment is 20 to 25 years old, and he said they “don’t even make that kind anymore.”

Dankert also mentioned it would be nice to have all matching desks in City Hall, not pieces from here and there.

Construction to remodel the current Austin Utilities space in City Hall could include new permanent walls on the main and second floors, new side cube walls, new carpet on the first floor, new paint and a new conference room on the main floor.

On the City Hall side, the city would repaint most areas, create a new break room in the engineering staff work area, repair exterior stucco finish and replacing the current city clerk door with windows for Parks and Rec. The city would also add backlit signage on the north and south sides of the building.

Dankert said city leaders asked many staff members for input about the new space and tried to pool most of that into the plan.

City Hall was built in 1969 and remodeled it in three phases from 1996 to 1998. Austin Utilities moved into the building in 1999, according to Dankert.