SANDPOINT — City Hall administrative services will begin closing to walk-in traffic on Fridays starting April 10 as part of a six-month pilot program intended to increase staff satisfaction.

The administrative staff will be shifting to a 4/10 work schedule, working 10-hour days, four days a week. City Hall hours will also be shifting, opening at 7:30 a.m. and staying open until 5:30 p.m., which Central Services Director Cheryl Hughes said will give residents more flexibility in visiting.  

This change does not affect the city’s police and fire departments, which will remain open to the public all day, every day. 

“If they work an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. job, they can come in after 5 to 5:30 p.m. and many of our services are already available online,” Hughes said. “This proposal does not reduce employee hours or services provided to the community. It is simply restructuring administrative office hours to provide extended daily availability while maintaining operational coverage.” 

Those who need to do business at City Hall will have the option to schedule an appointment with staff as needed. To schedule an appointment, residents will need to call the department directly. The departments’ phone numbers can be found on the city’s website.  

Hughes said that the closure of the building to walk-ins will also provide staff who are still working on Friday with more uninterrupted time to work on projects. 

While Hughes said the changes could be implemented as soon as Monday, March 23, the City Council unanimously voted to implement the changes at a later date. Councilor Pam Duquette pushed for a later start date once the public had been properly notified through a press release and handouts in utility billing. 

“I don't want this to come back and be an issue,” Duquette said. "If we can wait until you've done all that noticing, people have a chance to think about it, respond, if they want to. That would be my request to put that off until everybody's been noticed.” 

The 4/10 schedule is not new to the city; Hughes said that many of the city’s parks and street crews already operate on a similar, albeit staggered schedule. The city experimented with this schedule for administrative staff last summer, but Hughes said they pulled the plug after department directors realized it wasn’t working. 

City staff’s new schedule is a revised version of a 4/10 schedule that Hughes said will ensure consistent staffing coverage. Hughes said several staff members expressed disappointment when the program went away last summer, and one candidate for the open deputy Public Works director position declined due to a lack of the flexible schedule. 

“That position has been open for six months,” Public Works Director Holly Ellis said. “Anything that we can do for retraction of employees or to try to retain talent, I want to look for it... once this position is filled, it won't be far behind that. We'll have another position that we're trying to fill and, again, attract talent.” 

Numerous department heads, including Ellis, came up to speak in favor of the schedule as a way of improving staff morale and better meeting residents when they are available. Deputy Community Planning and Development Director Bill Dean said the early opening works for his department because contractors are typically up earlier in the day. 

The council asked Hughes to take account of any public feedback received and take that into account when evaluating the program. 

“Folks that know me know that I'm really good at playing devil's advocate, and I spent some time with staff today doing just that, trying to find a place where this could go wrong,” Councilor Kyle Schreiber said. “I want to thank the staff for answering all my questions. I couldn't find a reasonable reason not to approve this.” 

The entire discussion can be found on the city’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/@CityofSandpoint.com.