MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The slow abandonment of City Hall has begun here, nearly a year after an overnight ceiling collapse exposed hidden asbestos and caused a temporary building closure.

The walls are now mostly bare. Desks and chairs are being moved out. Piles of trash have been tossed.

“Think of what your garage looks like after you’ve been in a place for five years — we’ve been here for 50,” said Ken Courtmanch, parks and facilities superintendent for the city.

Rooms that once were stacked floor to ceiling with important documents are being carefully sorted through and cleaned. The records room downstairs that recently was a jumble of overloaded shelves now instead looks like a Soviet-era grocery store with only a meager assortment of boxes.

By the end of June or early July, the city’s retreat from its 48-year-old City Hall should be complete.

About 50 city employees are moving across town into a temporary home at the Redstone Building at 6100 219th St. SW. The city has signed a five-year, $2.2 million lease for the property.

Talks about a safer and more permanent home for City Hall have been brewing for years — since architects said in 1991 that replacing the aging City Hall would be cheaper and smarter than renovating a building. Nearly 20 years later, the ­building suffers regular power outages from overloaded circuits, and has major heating and cooling problems.

The ceiling collapse forced the city’s hand, Councilman John Zambrano said. Since the same type of ceiling is found throughout City Hall, moving was a public safety necessity, he said.

“It is like trying to protect against the next earthquake,” Zambrano said. “People’s safety is more important than bricks and mortar.”

Plans for a new City Hall don’t include bricks or mortar. However, architectural drawings outline a brand new complex for city government where City Hall now stands.

A $40 million project that would help anchor the city’s downtown was endorsed by a city task force in December.

It would incorporate open green spaces with three new buildings: a new City Hall, a new police station, and a new community center that could also house a senior center. The new complex would retain the existing library and fire stations and turn the existing police station into an emergency operations center.

Voters would need to approve the those plans. Some city officials worry whether that can happen in this economy.

“There’s a difference between a dream and a plan,” Zambrano said. “I want to remain optimistic, but I have to be a realist, too.”

Chris Fyall: 425-339-3447, cfyall@heraldnet.com.