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06/30/2020 12:00 AMAfter nearly four months of restricting on-site access and closing municipal offices to the public, the town halls in Chester and Deep River are planning to reopen for in-person services in early July. Essex Town Hall opened its doors to residents on June 22.
Although the doors are open, or will be, for services that necessitate an in-person visit to town hall, state guidance on reopening during the pandemic means strict adherence to safety protocols meant to safeguard employees and visitors.
Along with a face mask requirement, residents can expect to see social distance markers, plexiglass shields, hand sanitizer stations, and clear signage on health and safety measures.
In Essex, only the second-floor bathrooms are available for use to the public and a greeter staffs the entrance to ensure the building is operating at no more than 50 percent capacity.
“We are really focused on keeping everyone safe and distant, so we are going to limit capacity in the building and based on the greeters count, at any time, we’re going to make sure [of] that,” said Essex First Selectman Norman Needleman at a June 17 Board of Selectman (BOS) meeting.
Town employees work with walkie-talkies to increase their ability to communicate throughout the building.
“If people are lined up to pay taxes, there’s only a limited number of people able to be at the tax collector window and in this hall,” said Needleman. “The rest are going to have to wait outside and as people leave, new people can come in.”
To encourage paying taxes by mail, the Town of Essex included a postage-paid envelope in all of its tax bills for July 1. Taxes can also be paid online.
Needleman also referenced the town’s decision to offer a three-month lower interest rate program for payments made after Aug. 3, which is the grace period for taxes due July 1.
“There is that three-month window now, [with] that very, very low interest rate where people can, they don’t have to all rush in at one point, they have a little more time,” said Needleman. “We’re hoping to really minimize the crowd in the building.”
The Town of Deep River, which also adopted the three-month lower interest rate program for taxes this year, is making modifications to the offices at Town Hall to ensure social distancing. The town anticipates reopening July 1 (before press time), but it may not be until Monday, July 6.
“We’ve got all the plexiglass that is going up,” said Deep River First Selectman Angus McDonald at a June 23 BOS meeting. “We’re adding some Dutch doors to our office doors like the Tax Assessor’s Office, so that while the Town Hall is open, and the public computer will be outside in the hallway, actual access to the office will be through voice, through the top of that Dutch door.”
McDonald says in-person meetings will take place in conference rooms, but access to private offices may be limited.
“The way these offices [are configured] with such narrow hallways into them, the health department has been working with us on how best to do that,” said McDonald.
In Chester, plans are underway to reopen Town Hall for in-person services on Tuesday, July 7.
“We will be finishing up doing our marking and signage and getting hand sanitizer, etcetera in the building,” said First Selectman Lauren Gister at a BOS meeting on June 24. “And we are going to continue to encourage people to do, if they can do the business that they need to do by mail, please do.”
Appointments for the land use office are encouraged and there have been discussions related to temperature checks and a single-entry door.
Although the town is readying to accommodate residents, Gister acknowledges some anxiety on behalf of town employees regarding the reopening.
“The staff is concerned,” said Gister. “They love seeing people, they love visiting with people, they don’t want people to think that we’re not welcoming, but they really are concerned that people not just come to say ‘Hi’ and visit, because it probably isn’t a good idea for a little while.”
As the state reopens, the costs for towns to implement many of the changes required to operate safely during the pandemic are eligible for reimbursement from the state Office of Policy and Management Municipal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) program. Under the CRF program, Chester is eligible for $44,000; Deep River, $48,865; and Essex, $30,959.
In April, Connecticut municipalities were asked to provide the state with information on their actual and projected expenses related to COVID-19 from March 1 to June 30. Although $75 million is set aside through the CRF program for municipalities, nearly $40 million of direct costs have been reported as of June 4, according to a written statement issued by Governor Ned Lamont.