GREENFIELD — Greenfield Cooperative Bank and its Northampton Cooperative Bank division will reopen its bank lobbies for public access effective Monday.
“As a bank, we have already been authorized to stay open (since the March 24 shutdown) as an essential business,” President and CEO Michael Tucker said. “Since that time, we had very limited public access while we learned more about the COVID-19 situation to allow us to provide reasonable protections for customers and staff.”
Over the past two months, customers have been able to access drive-up tellers, ATMs and online/mobile banking, according to a Greenfield Cooperative Bank press release. These services will continue to operate as before even with the reopening of lobbies.
The bank will require everyone to follow safety standards set by the state, including requiring the use of face masks by staff and customers (except children under age 2), use of hand sanitizer and following proper social distancing. According to the release, before any transaction is completed, tellers will ask each customer to pull down his or her mask briefly to do a “security camera” smile to record who is in the lobby as additional security.
The bank has also posted signs and will limit the number of customers in the lobbies to ensure proper social distancing. Additionally, the bank has installed a full range of safety measures, including Plexiglas shields at all teller windows and desks.
According to the release, Greenfield Cooperative Bank will be taking the temperature of all employees at the start of each day to prevent someone who is sick from entering the offices. However, Tucker noted the bank won’t be taking the temperatures of customers.
In addition, all staff members must frequently wash their hands during the day, and the bank will regularly sanitize high-traffic touch areas (doorknobs, check writing desks, teller counters) for the public and behind the teller line for its staff, according to the release.
At night, Greenfield Cooperative Bank will continue cleaning. The bank branches also have new air filters in their heating and cooling systems to ensure cleanliness.
However, the back room operations and lending departments at the 62 Federal St. branch in Greenfield will be accessible to the public by appointment only. According to the release, lenders (both commercial and residential) will encourage telephone and online applications, but they will engage in face-to-face applications upon request.