BAYFIELD – The lobby at Bayfield Town Hall will temporarily operate on reduced business hours during the winter months as a result of staffing issues and to help ensure officials have a bit more time to get things like payroll done earlier.
The revised hours, effective Nov. 1 and lasting through Feb. 28, will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the lobby will be closed Fridays.
The current hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 9 a.m. to noon on Fridays.
Town Manager Katie Sickles said the reduced hours are a result of being short-staffed, and Town Hall is currently without a full-time employee working the front counter window in the lobby. She also said the reduced hours will give town officials extra time to do necessary training and to do payroll earlier on work days.
Sickles said the current time card system is not working well, and not being adequately trained on “repetitive duties” that are involved means that more people must get involved in doing the job.
“We’re required to pay all the benefits basically to the IRS, the state, (Fire & Police Pension Association of Colorado). All of that payment has to go, and it has to match. And if the report doesn’t match what we’re paying out, then somebody’s got to go through that documentation,” she said.
Mayor Tom Au said the adjusted lobby hours will give employees extra time to get caught up on any projects they may be working on.
“We’re having all kinds of software problems with the payroll and some of the utility billings. So, it’s kind of a chance for the employees to get that figured out, get that whole process straightened out,” he said.
Multiple residents expressed concern about the reduced hours during Tuesday’s town board meeting, especially the Friday schedule. Many of their concerns revolved around emergency situations that could happen on a Friday such as a water issue or when Bayfield police may be needed, or because those revised hours may conflict with their work schedules.
Public Works Director Jeremy Schulz told the board that people will still be able call his department in the event of an emergency water issue, and police chief Michael Hoguet said BPD will still take calls.
Trustee Brenna Morlan told the board she agreed the reduced hours will help make Town Hall employees’ jobs a bit easier, but noted that business hours for workers such as bankers could prompt making exceptions to adjust lobby hours.
Sickles said people who may not be able to swing by Town Hall during the revised lobby hours will be accommodated, adding that town officials would coordinate with them about arranging a time. That’s why it’ll be important for residents to get in touch with town officials ahead of time when they may be coming in, she said.
“If you plan to be here (at Town Hall) to pay your water bill, and you decide to come at 5:00 when we’re closed, well, you may have to put it in the dropbox,” she said.
Sickles said a phone number will be posted on the front door of Town Hall and on social media so that residents have a way to contact someone outside of Town Hall lobby hours. She said there won’t be an email address included because of security concerns over scams or “real volatile” emails, but said she’d have town officials ask people over the phone to send them an email message.
Au said he doesn’t believe Town Hall will get backed up with phone calls to where someone wouldn’t be able to connect directly with a town official.
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
