GREENFIELD — After being closed to the public since mid-March to minimize the spread of COVID-19, City Hall had a “soft” reopening Wednesday, serving three individuals and one couple during the first hour and a half.
“We set things up in case we had a line outside at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, but we didn’t,” Mayor Roxann Wedegartner said. “Everything went smoothly. They did their business quickly and left.”
Wedegartner’s Chief of Staff Danielle Letourneau said she believes people are still taking precautions and doing as much city business online and by mail as possible.
The city clerk’s and treasurer’s offices are the only two offices open to the public on the ground floor of City Hall at this point and for the foreseeable future, Letourneau said.
“The assessor meets with people by appointment,” she said. “The mayor does the same in her office upstairs. No one is going upstairs unless they have an appointment.”
City Hall visitors enter through the side door to the right of the building. If lines do form, six people will be allowed in the building at a time. Currently, the side door is used to enter and exit. It is fully accessible.
Letourneau said city officials will pay close attention to how the system is working and will change things if needed.
“We’re open limited hours right now — Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” she said. “When people enter the building, they are asked to use hand sanitizer. They are checked in, and people should bring their own pen. If they don’t, we have complimentary pens. We are taking every precaution.”
People must stand 6 feet apart in lines either inside or outside. One person or a couple is allowed in an office, and one person or a couple can wait just outside of an office at one time. Large, clear Plexiglas screens protect employees from the public and vice versa.
Greenfield City Clerk Kathy Scott said her office saw very few people Wednesday.
“Monday is typically our really busy day, so we’ll see what it’s going to be like next week,” she said.
Letourneau said the city reserves the right to take people’s temperatures as they enter the building. Right now, she said, that isn’t happening, but if positive cases start to rise in Greenfield, it would be a possibility.
“We’ll be leaving copies of the most popular paperwork people ask us for just inside the door,” she said. “That way, they only have to come inside the door, grab what they need and leave.”
The staff — there aren’t many — working out of City Hall wash their hands regularly, wear gloves when handling money, and everyone, staff members and the public, must wear a mask.
“We just have no idea how long this will last,” Letourneau said. “And we don’t know if this is what it is going to look like through the pandemic. We may need to make changes along the way. Also, we’re thinking some of what we’re doing now could become permanent.”
The city is using yellow caution tape to cordon off the lobby, but officials said they will find another way in coming weeks to make it look more attractive.
“The public won’t be allowed to use the front door or the stairs inside the building at the front, but the staff will need to use those stairs,” Letourneau said. “We’re still figuring some of this out.”
City Hall was “deep cleaned” and will continue to be cleaned every day, Letourneau said. The bathrooms aren’t open to the public.
There are two people working in the clerk’s office and two at home, and those people rotate every other week. That goes for the treasurer’s office, as well. A limited number of people work upstairs in the mayor’s office and human resources office.
“For the most part, we’d love to see people either call us or use our online services,” Letourneau said. “We just want to keep everyone safe. If someone needs to come here in person, then that’s what we’re open for, but if business can be done another way, I hope that’s what the public chooses.”
For more information or to conduct business online, visit greenfield-ma.gov.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.