8.f)2) City Office Hours Meeting Date: 07/19/2011
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City Council Agenda Report
City of Scandia
14727 209th St. North
Scandia, MN 55073 (651) 433-2274
Action Requested: Discuss the City's office hours.
Deadline/Timeline: N/A
Background: • Councilmember Swanson has requested a discussion of the city's
office hours. There is a concern that the hours may not be
convenient for all residents, particularly those that commute to
jobs outside of the city.
• Common office hours kept by many cities are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday(42.5 business hours each week.)
Some have extended hours once or twice a week as a convenience
to citizens who are not able to visit during normal office hours.
• Some cities have adopted alternative schedules. Newport, for
example, is open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
(Their full-time employees work fourl0-hour days per week.)
There are some cities that close on Friday afternoons but stay open
additional hours Monday through Thursday, or something similar.
For example, the City of Columbus has "summer hours": 8:00
a.m. to 4:30 Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on
Fridays.
• Staff contacted several neighboring small cities to collect
information on how they handle receptionist duties during their
open office hours. Cities vary quite a bit in their staffing and
office arrangements so it is difficult to say what is typical. The
cities we contacted generally have two support staff inembers who
work full time hours corresponding to their open office hours.
They often share the receptionist duties, staggering lunch breaks
(so they don't need to close at midday, like Scandia does) and
backing each other up during absences.
• Scandia's office hours are 9 a.m. to Noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00
p.m. Monday through Friday. We have one position (the Deputy
Clerk) that works that schedule, 30 hours per week. The other
positions who share the duty of greeting the public are very part-
time positions (the Treasurer, about 8 hours per week, and the
Office Assistant, about 12 hours per week.) That means that for
one-third of the open hours, there usually is just one person
available to staff the office. The Deputy Clerk needs some
uninterrupted time for certain tasks (such as writing minutes,
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accounts payable and payroll) and time to meet other needs. It is
important to have backup for her and some time when she can
work with fewer interruptions.
• While the 2 full-time employees working in the office(the
Administrator and Building Official/Maintenance Supervisor) do
answer phones and greet visitors when necessary, it can and does
negatively affect our ability to perform other aspects of our jobs.
When none of the support staff are available, we must leave our
desks to cover the reception duties, making it very difficult to
accomplish other work.
• Staff make many informal accommodations to be accessible to the
public. We often respond to requests to stay open late or over the
lunch hour for someone who is running late or has a special
request. The Administrator and Building Official/Maintenance
Supervisor have flexibility in scheduling their full-time office
hours to fit in evening meetings and appointments outside of
regular office hours. A drop-box was installed so documents and
keys can be securely received outside of office hours. Staff has
not received complaints about office hours.
• The City I worked for previous to Scandia had a concern about
office hours, as many commuters had difficulty visiting during
regular office hours (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) We found that
because many commuters had left the community by 7:00 or 7:30
a.m. they would find office hours later in the day to be more
convenient. The solution was to extend office hours to 6:00 p.m.
one day a week. Tuesdays were chosen as more desirable for the
public than some other days, and it was already a meeting night
for many of the staff inembers. We found that traffic during the
added hours was generally quite light (even after many years) so
staffing was kept at a minimum, generally one person at each
public service counter. The staff inembers who volunteered to
staff the extra hours on Tuesday were allowed to take off the same
amount of time on Friday afternoon. Because there were enough
staff available. and this was seen as a"perk"by some,the extra
hours were easily added to the schedule without increasing
staffing costs.
Recommendations: Because Scandia has a small staff, expanding office hours to be more
comparable to those of many other cities (42.5 open hours vs. 30
hours) would not be possible without a significant increase in staff.
At a minimum, the Deputy Clerk position would need to be expanded
to full-time and some additional hours added to the other two
positions to make sure breaks and absences could be covered. While
we believe there is enough work to justify additional office staffing,
the Council may not wish to increase the budget.
At the same time, we are sensitive to the concern that our citizens who
commute may have difficulty with the current office hours. One
option would be to extend office hours to 6:00 p.m. one day a week.
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Most Tuesdays, the Deputy Clerk is required to work in the evening to
take minutes at Planning Commission or City Council meetings. Her
shift on Tuesdays could be changed to 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., or until
the end of the meeting on those evenings. We believe this could work
if the Office Assistant is available to cover the 9:00 a.m. to Noon shift.
The staff cost should be negligible, as the extra afternoon hours would
be offset by reduced morning hours and the city is already paying the
Deputy Clerk for time spent at meetings.
We would be increasing the number of hours the office would have a
single person on reception duties, but there could be some off-setting
benefits. The 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. period would probably be fairly quiet.
On meeting nights, the Deputy Clerk would be working for a half hour
or full hour prior to the meeting with privacy to do other work and to
prepare for the meeting. Having the morning off on such days would
also be desirable for personal reasons, and would shorten what can be
a long work day when there are evening meetings.
The additional office hours could be offset by a reduction in hours on
some other days, if the Council wanted to make sure there would be
no additional staff cost. However, we believe this might be more
confusing for the public.
Staff also has discussed whether some alternative schedule (such as
the four 10-hour days as practiced by Newport) could help improve
service to the public. The office would be open fewer days, but for
longer hours. In Scandia's case, we believe this might actually result
in a reduced level of service to the public and increased costs. The
typical day to close (Friday) could also cause difficulties for people
who using the Community Center on weekends. We also tend to get a
lot of requests for burning permits on Friday afternoons. and visits
from other folks who may have that day off work.
Attachments/ • None
Materials provided:
Contact(s):
Prepared by: Anne Hurlburt, Administrator
(city office hours)
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