The council has invested $2.5 million since late last year remodelling the ground floor reception used by its customer services agency and other staff, as well as reshuffling departments on the building's upper floors.
The changes to the reception area aimed to turn the ground floor plaza into a one-stop shop for ratepayers and their bills, people with general inquiries about the council and those wanting to talk to council staff, council customer services general manager Grant Strang said.
The redevelopment plans came in for criticism when they were revealed last year, with some residents worried the move would shut council staff off from ratepayers.
Mr Strang said it was expected public access to upper floors of the council offices would be restricted from May 24.
However, he stressed the changes would improve customers' experiences inside the building, as well as enhancing security for staff.
Instead of navigating numerous floors searching for the right member of staff to speak to, ratepayers would have their queries dealt with initially by the council's customer services agency staff in the reception area, Mr Strang said.
Council staff would be called down to meet people upon request, or members of the public directed to the appropriate floor of the Civic Centre as required, he said.
New meeting rooms were being added in the ground floor plaza area, beside the new reception, for those needing space or privacy to discuss their issues.
Public access to Mayor Peter Chin and chief executive Jim Harland's offices on the second floor would continue, but appointments would first be checked and visitor stickers issued.
Customer services agency manager William Robertson said the redeveloped reception area was being used last week, although the finishing touches were still being added in areas including around the ground floor lifts.
"The idea is to handle as much of the customer interaction on the ground floor as possible, and make it easier for the customer to be served.
"It's a far more attractive, professional look than we had before . . .
It's chalk and cheese from where we were. It really is," Mr Robertson said.
Council city property assistant manager Rhonda Abercrombie said the majority of departments on upper levels had been relocated in recent months, bringing staff whose work was closely aligned closer together physically.
The focus was now on completing the ground floor plaza's meeting rooms, due to be completed in the next week or two, Mrs Abercrombie said.
