Beginning Monday, El Dorado City Hall offices will once again be closed during the lunch hour.
Following a staff meeting earlier this week, city employees and Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer agreed to close City Hall offices between noon and 1 p.m. each workday.
Citizens will not be able to conduct business in City Hall, vis visit or phone call, during that time.
The El Dorado City Council addressed the issue in January, several weeks after council members agreed to scrap compensatory time for city employees.
The issue was also one of the first orders of business that fell on Smith-Creer’s plate after she took office Jan. 1.
City Hall staffers told Creer-Smith then that they used comp time to rotate lunch shifts so that one employee could remain on duty to assist residents who visit City Hall during the lunch hour.
The arrangement was implemented years earlier at the behest of city officials who had said that closing City Hall during the noon hour posed an inconvenience for residents who attempted to conduct municipal business during that time.
The practice was temporarily suspended after January 1 when the new city policy eliminating comp time went into effect.
“… for some, that’s the only time they have during the day to take care of business,” Council Member Dianne Hammond said during a discussion about the matter in January.
Debbie Stinson, administrative assistant in the Department of Public Works, told council members that staff members rotate weeks for which each is responsible for a lunchtime shift.
The staff would mitigate the overtime the accumulated by leaving early on Friday or using it for such activities as doctors’ appointments.
The council subsequently agreed to stagger lunchbreaks for City Hall employees and resume the noon-hour schedule.
Smith-Creer said some circumstances have since changed, namely, the relocation of municipal trash bag sales to the city’s new recycling drop-off center, 401 Liberty.
The center opened in February.
A sign posted on the door of the rear entrance of City Hall directs visitors to the new center if they are looking to purchase trash bags.
As residents have acclimated to the new location, Smith-Creer said foot traffic in City Hall has significantly decreased during the lunch hour.
“Most people were coming to buy trash bags,” she said.
Smith-Creer said that the lunch-hour closure of City Hall will also allow employees to take a “true lunchbreak.”
City Hall is open to the public from 8 a.m. until noon and 1 p.m. until 5 p.m., Monday — Friday.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.