With fingers crossed, Slidell city officials are moving in furniture, and getting ready to open the Slidell City Council and Administrative Building for business Monday morning.

Almost five years after Hurricane Katrina floodwaters inundated the City Hall and other city government buildings, the City Council, and four city departments are finally going to get out of the trailers on Bayou Lane and move into a real building.

Most of the building is ready for occupancy; however, the full council will have to keep meeting at the Bayou Lane trailer for a couple more months. Contractors are still working on the Council Chambers, and then there is the problem with the seating. Mayor Ben Morris said the seats for the audience are on order and will not be delivered until the middle of April. Morris has suggested that until the 103 seats arrive, the council could use the folding chairs that are stacked in the Municipal Auditorium across the street. The auditorium is slated to be razed within the next couple of months. Other than the problem with the chairs, Morris said the council chambers should be ready within two weeks.

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The three-story building sits right next to the City Hall on Second Street. Started a year ago, the $4.5 million facility was financed with money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and some city money. The Council Chambers and offices will occupy the third floor. Council Administrator Thomas Reeves told the council at their Tuesday meeting all the council files had been moved over, and the office furniture was in place. The entire move should be finished by today.

Morris said that state Rep. Kevin Pearson and other St. Tammany legislators helped in getting the state to put up $60,000 for the furniture.

The departments of Finance, Human Resources, Data Processing, City Attorney and Accounting will occupy the second floor. So far, most of the furniture is in place, and Finance Director Sharon Howes said her department should be in by this afternoon.

Besides the entrance, elevators and stairs, the first floor is a parking lot. In order to get FEMA money, the city had to agree to raise the building so that it would not get flooded in case of another hurricane.

Today, the phones and computer equipment will be installed. Morris said that over the weekend, all the phone and computer lines will be switched over from the Bayou Lane location to the Second Street building so that people can call council offices on Monday.

Besides the Council Chambers, the third floor has lobby, offices, conference rooms and a break room. The building has been designed to be eco-friendly.

“It’s a very green building,” Morris said. For example, all the lights in a room turn on when the door is opened. After everybody leaves, the lights will turn off automatically, saving electricity. In the bathrooms, the sinks turn on when a hand is placed under the faucet, and turn off when removed, saving water. There are also lots of windows to provide lighting during the day.

Morris said that the city originally wanted to name the new building after someone in Slidell, and they held a contest. There were so many suggestions, Morris said he didn’t want to offend anyone.

“We got a lot of worthy names, and I wanted to use them all, but we would need 15 buildings,” Morris said. So for now, until another administration or council decides differently, the building will be known as the Slidell City Council and Administration Building.

Though the building will be open on Monday, Morris warned everybody to expect some delays and snags, until everything is worked out.

Then there is the second municipal building that will go up behind the City Hall. The cement footings have been poured for the building that will house the rest of the Slidell government, and construction is expected to be finished in a year.