MORENCI — The city of Morenci is considering a change to the hours that City Hall is open.
City Hall is currently open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. City clerk and superintendent Jeff Bell said those hours have been in place since 2014.
However, traffic near the end of the day is light, and some residents have been requesting Friday hours, so the city council is considering a change.
At their July 14 meeting, council members discussed the possibility of City Hall being open from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except for a lunch hour from noon to 1 p.m., for a six-month trial period.
Council members reviewed data from 94,922 transactions at the counter over the course of 12 years. According to those records, the busiest time is during the 10 a.m. hour, with 13.9% of counter transactions being conducted between 10 and 11 a.m. Mornings are the busiest time overall.
There’s still plenty of activity in mid-afternoon, but transactions start to fall off after 4 p.m., and very few people come in between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., with only 4.4% of transactions being conducted then.
Of people who come in between 4 and 5 p.m., the vast majority come in during the first half-hour, and the same is true of people who come in between 5 and 6 p.m.
“After 5:30, very rarely do you get someone,” Bell said.
The council also reviewed information about the eight other Lenawee County municipalities that offer 40 hours a week of service. Three out of those eight other municipalities are open four days per week like Morenci.
Council members were open to the idea of a change, but decided they wanted more discussion before deciding on a course of action.
Mayor Tracy Schell said she received feedback that it would be useful to have one day per week when City Hall is open earlier and one day when it’s open later, to accommodate people whose schedules don’t allow them to come in during typical business hours.
And council member Diane Molitierno said she doesn’t like the idea of being closed for lunch, noting that for many residents, the lunch hour is a convenient time to take care of personal business.
The council voted to table the issue and send it back to the finance and legal committee for further discussion.