Recently, there were improvements made to City Hall. Customers now check in at a front window in the Police Department area and the administration side is closed. Why was this done? Does his restrict my access to City Officials?

Previously, City Hall was divided into two areas. When you entered City Hall, you would go into a door to the left to go to the Police Department or to the right, to go to the Administrative Offices. These two support staff positions were intended to be each others’ back up and were intended to know each others’ job responsibilities and processes. However, the physical barrier made this impractical. Therefore, when employees in these positions were at lunch or out of the office, the other people in the office routinely became the backup to wait on customers at the counter. While the City Administrator, Police Chief, Chief Financial Officer and Community Services Director are all happy to serve customers, it became disruptive to their workloads and was an inefficient use of resources. It also left customers waiting and sometimes, left customers unsure of which area they should choose to enter.

Now when customers enter City Hall, there is one stop shopping. There is a large window where a person can go to get assistance. The new layout also is a more efficient use of space. Before there were two reception areas, the reception now uses an area in the hallway that was previously unused and has freed up the former reception areas to allow for the expansion of a filing area in the Police Department and a staff working conference table in the Administration area. The separation also helps address a problem the City had each year with the audit: separation of duties. Previously, due to the layout, it was possible and actually likely that the same person accepting money, would be the same person verifying its receipt to the bank. While there have never been any allegations of wrong doing, it was always noted in the audit as an area of weakness. That problem has now been remedied and the City’s financial policies strengthened by the new layout. The City also recently added some cutouts to the front window, in response to a few complaints about the look of the front window and in an effort to have a more attractive foyer. The designs were added at no cost.