City Hall to remain at reduced hours

Moose Jaw City Hall's public access hours will remain at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, excluding statutory holidays. 

A report went before city council on Monday looking at the possibility of bringing City Hall hours back to 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. The recommendation from city administration to keep the reduced hours narrowly won out by a vote of 4-3. Opposed were councilllors Doug Blanc, Jamey Logan and Kim Robinson. 

The City of Moose Jaw moved from 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. to 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 31, 2021. The press release at the time said it was the "new permanent hours." 

During the city council meeting on May 20, the Good Neighbours Group addressed council with concerns about the reduced hours, claiming Moose Jaw's City Hall is one of the least accessible of all the cities in the province. 

According to the report giving to city council, the reduced hours have resulted in "an increase in productivity and efficiencies." 

City manager Maryse Carmichael said another reason for keeping the reduced hours is the fact that more people are doing business online versus in-person at City Hall and additional cost for security. 

Director of Financial Services Brian Acker agreed, saying that people are doing business differently these days. He compared it to going to the bank. 

"Before, I would go to the bank maybe once a week. I might go to the bank once a year now and its very, very similar for a lot of things with City hall. People have found alternative ways to make their payments," Acker said. 

Carmichael added that online services is more convenient for customers, cost efficient, can reach a larger audience, accessible for those with disabilities, faster transactions and interactions, it is more flexible and improves data management. 

City administration also pointed out that there has been a reduction in overtime and security costs sinc the reducted hours came into effect. Robinson questioned whether security was needed and Carmichael said removing security is not an option. 

"I believe it was six weeks ago when we had someone that came and was in City Hall upstairs in the offices," she said. 

Financially, the extended hours of 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. would cost $17,943 annually or $1,495 monthly for the City Hall commissionaire for security. With hours of 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the commissionaire would cost the city $9,869 annually or $822 monthly. 

It was also noted that the Department of Financial Services incurred $5,500 annually in overtime costs prior to the reduced hours. 

Robinson still insisted that city staff can still be efficient and still got back to extended hours. 

 "I think this could all be solved. We could go back to those hours and have rotating staff. I did quite a bit of time in the restaurant and hotel business, which was by the way also a service industry much like our city should be. We had people doing cash outs. We always had the customer covered even though we were still doing the paperwork, answering inquiries, booking rooms, all in the background," he said. 

Carmichael added that the number of customers attending City Hall in-person remains less than pre-pandemic levels, further indicating that going back to extended hours would not make sense. 

Coun. Crystal Froese said she hadn't heard many complaints and questioned how big of an issue it is. She compared it to when the city tried to change where resident would leave out their garbage bins. 

"I asked myself is does the general public really, really want to see us change back? Is this something they really desire? Because when it was the garbage issue, this was a packed gallery and it was full-on engagement with our citizens on that issue. I really don’t wee that with this," she said. 

Meanwhile, Logan said he was opposed because, if the city wants to be run like a business, it should have regular business hours. 

"To be business-like, we need to be open, in my opinion, a little longer, much like a regular business with 11,000 customers paying taxes. I personally would support longer hours and if it wasn’t the 8:15 to 5 thing, maybe 9 to 4:30 at the very least and just see how it went," he said. 

However, residents can still reached all city departments by phone or email between the hours of 8:15 a.m. and 5 p.m. Carmichael added that people can call and arrange to come in before or after hours and that City Hall is open during the noon hour.