Town Hall Customer Service Area Getting Face-Lift

Visitors to Town Hall will find a new look when they step inside on Tuesday when it opens following the holiday weekend.

Workers have been busy since last Thursday rearranging the counters and installing new carpet in the customer service area on the first floor.

Tim Gordon, town administrator, said the face-lift to the area is to allow for better service and give the workers in the engineering and building departments more privacy to review plans.

"Right now they have to spread out plans on the counter, and the public can walk by and make comments," he said. "They need more privacy for that."

The tax collector's office staff will move to the customer service area. The tax office staff is cross-trained to work in the general customer service area, Gordon said, so the move makes sense.

The engineering and building staff will then be able to take over the area that was the tax office, he said, giving them privacy to review plans away from the public.

Much of the existing counters will be reused and reworked, which is keeping costs down, Gordon said. The cost is $35,000 to complete the move, and the biggest piece is replacing the carpet.

If all new materials were needed, he said, the project would probably cost close to $100,000 if not more.

The project is being completed now over the course of a three-day weekend in order not to disturb the public and a sensitive computer system, he said.