The door, which was bought to replace an old steel door and to match the grand front entrance at city hall, is automated and controlled with a switch and combination keypad mounted on a pole outside. Compounding the technical problems, there is no handle to pull the door open.

Since its installation during the summer, there have been complaints about the door remaining locked shut when residents have tried to enter city hall for scheduled events.

Users have fiddled with the keypad and pressed the switch, but the door remained shut until an attendant came to open it from inside. The missing handle has only added to the door’s image as a costly boondoggle.

“Tonight, coming in here we couldn’t get in from back,” Metcalfe Avenue resident Gerald Glass said during city council’s Dec. 7 public meeting. “It says to press a button, but it doesn’t work. So we have to go around to come in from the front.”

Director General Duncan Campbell acknowledged there have been problems with the door. “You’ve probably noticed there’s no handle to get in,” he said, causing some attending the council meeting to erupt in laughter. “We have to rely on the mechanism that’s been giving us some troubles. Hopefully we’ll get this done before too long.”

Campbell told The Examiner that the problem involves the outdoor door and an inner one. They need to be coordinated. There are also some hardware issues. However, according to Campbell, the handle is on back order.

“It’s such an architectural door that we don’t put just any door handle on it,” he said.

“It’s pain right now to operate because you have to push the button. But because the mechanism is all coordinated, when you go in, the outer door opens and then a few seconds later the inside door opens. So if you’re in a wheelchair, you’re not going to get hit by one of the doors. But there’s a timing problem. We’re going to change the timing and get the bugs out.”