By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — Effective immediately the Casco Town Office will no longer be open until 7 p.m. on Tuesday. 

Instead, on Tuesday only, the doors will close one hour earlier. Going forward, the office hours for Tuesday will now be from 10:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. 

Meanwhile, the other days of the week, the town hall will continue to be open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Casco Board of Selectmen fully supported this change with a 4-0 vote.

“What we are finding out is as society changes, those hours aren’t working,” according to Casco Town Manager Tony Ward.

Now-a-days, people do stuff Online for which they used to come into the town hall. 

Originally, the hours were switched to allow people who work late or work out-of-town an opportunity to do town business later. But, very few people take advantage of the later hours on Tuesday.  

“This fall, the ladies up front were keeping count of how many people were coming in. It averaged from 0 to 5,” Ward said.

“Since Jan. 11, we have had eight customers come in between 4:30 and 7 p.m. on Tuesday nights,” he said. 

He wouldn’t recommend totally doing away with the later hours yet.  

“We should openat 10:30 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. That would give people working in the Greater Portland area time to get to the town office,” he said. 

Selectman Robert MacDonald said that at one time the town hall was open on a Saturday during the month.

“And, that gave people time to get into the town hall,” he said.

He said he didn’t want to create a problem by being closed at a time that people had come to rely on. 

“The town hall is there to serve the people of the town, and if we aren’t there, we aren’t, you know, serving the people,” MacDonald said. 

Chair Mary-Vienessa Fernandes asked Tom Mulkern who was sitting in the audience for a history of the office hours change. She thought it was to serve the summer-time population. 

According to Mulkern, it happened when Ray Grant was on the board, about five to seven years ago.

“We were open 9 to 5 p.m. every day, and on Saturdays once a month. They wanted to be open up on Tuesday evening,” Mulkern said. 

“I can offer my personal opinion: I think 9 a.m. to 4:30, and one night until 6 p.m. and keep it consistent,” he said, advocating for the being openin the mornings. 

“I see a lot of people on Tuesday morning, pull in and pull out of the parking lot,” he said. 

“A lot of other towns, open up one Saturday out of the month,” Mulkern said. 

Selectman Scott Avery spoke.

“Everythinghas changed. You can registeryour vehicle Online. A lot of people are doing that,” he said. 

He supported changing the Tuesday hours, and was open to the idea of switching back to once-a-month Saturdays. 

Town ManagerWard said that while a lot of services can be completed Online there are people in the community who don’thave a computer or are not computer savvy. 

“The only things a resident cannot do is register a new vehicle,” he said. 

“I understand there is a certain percentage of the population that doesn’t have access” to doing things Online, he said. 

In related business, people who come into the town office will find that new Plexiglass windows have been installed.

The first Plexiglass windows at the front counters were installed as a result of COVID-19. However, the windows created a challenge when it came to hearing what was being said. The customers couldn’t hear the employee at the front counter and vise-versa. The new windows have holes so that conversations can be heard.