TOWN HALL HOURS OF OPERATION
Analysis and recommendation to establish year-round Town Hall hours of operation from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL Finance & Administration Report
TO: Committee of the Whole DATE: May 7, 2013 FROM: Sarah Jones, Corporate Officer MEETING DATE: May 14, 2013
TOWN HALL HOURS OF OPERATION
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the Committee recommend to Council that Town Hall hours of operation be established as 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. year-round beginning Monday, July 8, 2013.
CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER’S COMMENTS:
I concur with the recommendation.
PURPOSE OF REPORT:
To formally establish Town Hall hours of operation.
BACKGROUND:
For many years Town Hall has utilized a “winter” and a “summer” hours of operation schedule with winter hours being 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the summer hours moving from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The timing for the change from winter to summer hours has been in late May/ early June and ending in late September/early October – depending on where the dates fall on the calendar vis a vis the work week.
It should be noted that this report is focused only on Town Hall hours of operation as the Fire Hall and Parks staff are on different work schedules according to their operational needs.
DISCUSSION:
There are both pros and cons with the current system of winter and summer hours. The following discussion points describe these aspects:
Residents
Residents that commute to work downtown are generally on an 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. schedule. With summer hours, these residents are able to stop en route to their own jobs to transact their municipal business and still be to work on time. With winter hours aligning with many residents’ work schedules, there is no opportunity to transact municipal business outside of their own working hours.
For retired or home-based business operators, these residents often come into the office between the morning and afternoon traffic “rush hours” to avoid congestion.
Contractors
Summer hours are beneficial to contractors working in Town as building officials are to the sites earlier in the day.
Staff
Summer hours are a non-financial benefit that Town Hall employees receive. With the 4 p.m. office closure, staff can spend more daylight time in the warm weather with their families.
There has been some discussion over the years about instituting a year-round extended day that would see Town Hall hours changed to something like 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. However, like the flex day discussion that has ensued over the years – which could be tied to an extended day schedule – the small staff compliment make it operationally prohibitive and potentially a cost to the Town for backfilling with new on-call employees to institute an extended day schedule.
To clear up any misinformation that may exist, it should be noted that regardless of the operational schedule in place, staff have always utilized a 35-hour work week.
Property Tax Time
Past practice has seen the summer hours schedule begin approximately one month prior to the property tax payment deadline with notification about the hours included in the property tax mailer, on the Town’s website and in the Town’s newsletters.
Other Municipalities
Information regarding hours of operation is provided in the table below from eight other area municipalities. As one can see, there are numerous variations in place throughout the region.
| Municipality | Hours Open to Public | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Central Saanich | 8:30 – 4:30 year-round | Flex time |
| Colwood | 8:30 – 4:30 year-round | Some staff have flex time |
| Esquimalt | 8:30 – 4:30 winter hours 8:00 – 4:00 summer hours |
Summer hours right after tax deadline to Labour Day No flex time |
| Langford | 8:30 – 4:30 year-round | Staff there at 8:00 a.m. but doors open to public at 8:30 a.m. Flex time |
| North Saanich | 8:00 – 4:30 year-round | Flex time |
| Oak Bay | 8:30 – 4:30 year-round | No flex time |
| Sidney | 8:30 – 4:00 year-round | Staff there until 4:30 p.m. but doors close at 4:00 p.m. to public No flex time |
| Sooke | 8:30 – 4:30 year-round | Flex time |
The flex time information is supplied as it may provide insight into how hours are established (for example, the extended hours in North Saanich) and also how other jurisdictions may provide non-financial benefits to employees.
OPTIONS:
1.1 Status Quo – This option would see winter hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and summer hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. retained with the timing of these set to run the summer hours from late May/early June to late September/early October.
1.2 Status Quo with Variation – A variation on the winter/summer hours could see the timing of the summer hours set to begin after the property tax deadline and be in place for the remainder of July until Labour Day.
1.3 Status Quo with Variation – Another variation on the winter/summer hours could see the timing of the summer hours set to coincide with Daylight Saving Time (mid-March to early November).
2.0 Set Hours to 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Year-Round
3.0 Set Hours to 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Year-Round
CONCLUSION:
Staff propose that option 3.0 be implemented which would see year-round 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. hours of operation beginning the Monday after the 2013 property tax deadline. With the earlier start time, the public is better served as the commuting public would have a greater opportunity to transact business en route to work and contractors would have earlier access to building officials during the entire year. As well, it may be viewed by staff as a non-financial benefit that promotes family time and a general work/life balance. Finally, year-round preset hours would resolve the matter of potential confusion over “winter hours” and “summer hours”.
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the Committee recommend to Council that Town Hall hours of operation be established as 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. year-round beginning Monday, July 8, 2013.
SUBMITTED BY: S. Jones, Corporate Officer
REVIEWED BY: K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer
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