New Town Hall Hours

After a series of discussions with town employees and the Board of Selectmen, we will begin a new schedule of town office hours in the New Year. Starting on Thursday, January 10, and continuing each Thursday thereafter, all town offices will remain open until 7:00 p.m. Extended hours on Thursday night will be offset by closing town offices on Fridays at 1:00 p.m.

The objective is to increase the availability of town services to Norfolk residents. Many of our citizens are commuters and cannot come to town hall during normal business hours. Also, it is our experience that there is very little business activity on Friday afternoons; it is very rare to see any citizen in the building in the afternoon on Fridays.

This pattern of town business hours is common in Massachusetts. We will try it for three months and then evaluate. If we decide to continue with the new schedule, we will re-evaluate after six months, to see if there are any changes in patterns during the warmer months.

This message is being sent to all municipal employees and members of boards and committees for whom I have email addresses. If you are aware of someone in town government who has an email address and is not on this list, please let me know or send the information.

Also, be sure to keep me apprised of any problems that develop as we implement the new schedule.

Thanks

Bob Markel
Town Administrator

12/06/2001

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