By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Before taking the trip to the Naples Town Hall, a person might want to check to see what hours the doors are open.

One selectman admitted to having a hard time adjusting to the hours.

“I do that myself, I ask, ‘What days are we open?’ I drive up and look at the sign to see when to come in,” Select board member Stephen LaPointe said.

On Monday, the Naples Select Board voted, 5-0, to switch the hours again, about a year after going to a new schedule.

The revised schedule will have consistent opening times. That should make it easier for residents to remember. Also, people will have about six weeks to memorize the new hours.

Effective July 1, the Naples clerks counter will be open for transactions, Tuesday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Additionally, the town hall will be open from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the following Saturdays: June 1, June 27, July 13, July 27, Aug. 3 and Aug. 24.

Meanwhile, the Code Enforcement Department will be open Monday through Thursday and on the same Saturdays as the clerk office.

The discussion about the topic of switching up the office hours brought forth some differing opinions.

The balance being sought: Retaining town employees by offering a desirable work schedule and being of service by having the town hall open for the residents and tourists.

The people who work in the clerk’s office will still have a three-day weekend. It will be Saturday through Monday, instead of Friday through Sunday.

“In an effort to improve customer service support to Naples residents, the select board in collaboration with the town manager have announced new hours for the clerk’s counter, as well as summer select Saturday hours for the clerk and code enforcement,” Naples Town Manager Jason Rogers said. “This change will increase regular customer service hours from 35 to 36 hours per week.”

Former selectman Jim Grattelo spoke against the change.

“I voted against this. I predicted it wouldn’t stop here. First, close on Friday, now close earlier on Thursday. Next, work at home and have two days off,” Grattelo said.

He suggested utilizing new employees to cover being open five days.

“Now that all these people are hired at the town hall, why can’t you go back to five days a week and have a four-day workweek for employees,” he said.

He referred to the list of 22 municipalities in the region that are closed on Friday.

“The citizens of Naples don’t care what other towns are doing. The citizens of Naples want what is good for their community. In the summer, we go from 4,000 to 12,000 residents. The Select Board and the employees work for the citizens and taxpayers of Naples. They don’t work for their own self-interest. It makes no sense to continue to cut services when we have the ability not to do that,” he said.

He cited the case of people who live in Massachusetts or New York and need to do business in the Town of Naples. The current schedule would require them to leave on Thursday — if the town office was scheduled to be closed on Friday.

“The working class works Monday through Friday,” he said.

Naples Town Clerk Michelle Thibodeau shared her viewpoint with the select board.

“I’d like to make a quick comment on retaining staff. It’s treating staff appropriately as well. We are training clerks to go to other towns because the hours are consistent in other towns,” she said.

“If you need groceries, and the grocery store closes at 8 o’clock, you would find a way to get there before 8 o’clock,” Thibodeau said.

While the agenda item was being discussed, select board member Bill Adams asked about holidays that fall on day the office is already closed. That has been addressed. The employees get a floating 8-hour vacation so that the office can be open following a holiday, Thibodeau said.

Another concern was whether or not it was worth the expense to be open a half day on a few Saturdays each month.

Town Manager Rogers planned to get a headcount and figure out how many people come to town hall on Saturdays and what the purpose is.

Selectman Kevin Rogers said that having the town office open on every other Saturday morning was a tradition, making it worth keeping for residents familiar with that schedule.

Thibodeau explained the major drawback to Saturday hours.

“We are an agent to the state. The state is not available to use on Saturday. There are limited things we can do on a Saturday. We do not have the state as a backup on Saturday. We are here on a Saturday, hoping we can help. If someone has an error on their boat registration or has to file a SR-22 to register vehicle. Legal is not there. Trio is not there,” she said.

She added that being open Friday would make more sense.

LaPointe said he did some investigating into which towns were open on Friday. 

“I had the opportunity and I looked at surrounding towns. Of all the surrounding towns, Sebago and Raymond — which are both tourist towns like us — are the only two towns that are open on Friday. I made phone calls. They are in the process of closing Fridays to go with other towns,” he said.

“Yes, we are a tourist town and the population swells. At the same time, if we post hours and they are consistent,” it would be helpful to the people needing to make a stop at the town office, LaPointe said.