SOUTH HADLEY — The Select Board has requested further reductions to Town Hall hours to allow department staff to catch up on work.
Town Hall began closing to the public every Friday on Oct. 2. The change in hours was a reaction to years of staff cuts in municipal departments, which mostly reduced front desk positions and administrative assistants. Staff continues to work while the doors are closed, whether catching up on paperwork, holding meetings or completing inspections.
But on Oct. 20., the Select Board expressed concern that one day was not enough for small departments to complete their duties.
“I was asking the department heads regarding the possibility of Town Hall being closed twice a week,” Select Board Chair Jeff Cyr said. “I think mostly the voters would be receptive.”
Cyr and Vice Chair Carol Constant attended a department head meeting last week, where staff detailed their growing responsibilities absorbed from cut positions. The comments they heard painted “a very bleak picture,” Cyr said.
Town Administrator Lisa Wong said that some staff have seen their workload increase by 50%, in some cases 100%, in the past few months alone. Over the last several years, Town Hall staff have been reduced by 20%, with the biggest losses happening over the last year.
Vacancies combined with budget cuts have only exacerbated the challenge. The Council on Aging director position has been absorbed by existing senior services staff. Two public health employees left the department after their positions were reduced from full-time to part-time. Wong herself now completes assistant town administrator and human resource director duties.
“We’re down to such skeletal structures that everybody there is a bone and an organ,” Wong said. “They also can’t be the mouthpiece to the office as well.”
Cyr noted the Assessor’s Office already closes early on Wednesdays to complete the necessary assessments for the next tax bill.
Select Board Member Priscilla Marion backed the proposal, noting that 80% of town business is now conducted online. Constant also supported the change but did not agree with Town Hall closing for two consecutive days. She asked Wong to choose either shorter hours or a specific day based on staff preference.
“I don’t want to make this proposal. I shouldn’t. I’m not doing the work,” Constant said. “If we decide to encourage them [town staff] to do it, I think it should be left to them how they do it.”
Wong said she will discuss the idea with staff soon.
