New London — The City Council on Monday night agreed to hire a New York City architectural firm to study how much office space several city departments need and to ascertain the best use of the offices in City Hall and other city buildings.

The city found itself in a minor predicament earlier this year when its employees at the Stanton Building were relocated to allow engineers to assess the building’s structural integrity after a large crack was found in a floor there.

“The purpose of this study, and it’s by the same architects that are designing the renovation of City Hall, is to properly determine the space needs and office layout for various city departments,” Councilor Michael Passero said. “So we can determine our future space needs for City Hall, the Finance Department building across the street and our other needs so that we can provide the office space we need for our employees.”

Wank Adams Slavin Associates, the architectural firm contracted last year by the city to complete a conditions assessment of City Hall, will conduct the study. The council unanimously approved the $15,990 price tag, on the condition that Finance Director Jeff Smith, who was not at Monday’s meeting, confirm the bill can be paid from the funding already approved for the City Hall rehabilitation project.

The study will evaluate how much and what type of office space is required by each city department — with the exception of the police, fire and recreation departments — and then will develop three “operational space layout” options to most efficiently use the space in City Hall.

The February discovery of an 18-foot-long crack in a concrete floor of the Stanton Building, 111 Union St., generated a logistical headache and since, city employees have been working out of temporary offices elsewhere.

The Office of Development and Planning was relocated from its offices in the Stanton Building to the second floor of City Hall, 10 employees from other departments were relocated and the city has had a temporary office space trailer set up in the parking lot adjacent to the Stanton Building that will house four or five employees from the Building Inspection Division through this summer.

Compounding the space crunch is the City Council’s commitment to conducting a historically-accurate restoration of New London’s century-old Renaissance Revival City Hall.

Last year, the council’s Public Works Committee received a report from Wank Adams Slavin Associates that outlined the current state of the building along with its structural and mechanical systems.

In April, the City Council unanimously authorized $3 million in bonding to fund the planning, design and construction phases of a historic restoration of City Hall, and approved another $15,655 to make immediate repairs to the City Hall offices the Office of Development and Planning has been occupying.

c.young@theday.com

Twitter: @ColinAYoung