Following many months of consideration and planning, Scarborough Town Hall hours will change beginning May 1. The updated hours of operation for town hall will be Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on Fridays and weekends.

Scarborough Town Hall hours will change beginning May 1. The updated hours of operation for town hall will be Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on Fridays and weekends. Kelley Bouchard photo/Press Herald

The town began the process of considering a change in its hours last year following the increasing trend by many employers and other municipalities who have implemented four-day work weeks. The rise of the four-day work week model is being used as a mechanism to both attract new employees and retain existing employees in an increasingly tight job market.

Communities including Cumberland, Falmouth, Freeport, Biddeford and Sanford are now closed on Friday. Other communities including Gorham, Cape Elizabeth and Windham have plans to discuss moving in this direction later this spring.

Additionally, since the pandemic, the ability and interest from our residents to conduct more services online has only increased.

While the catalyst for the change was initially employee focused, modifications to the town hall schedule were made to improve the public’s accessibility to town services. For many years, residents have often commented to staff about the difficulty of accessing town hall between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. while working around their own traditional work schedule.

The town’s revenue and clerk’s offices have historically been open late for two evenings each month, the first and third Wednesdays, but the public has routinely expressed confusion with this inconsistent schedule and frustration that they could not access other departments at the same time. Coupled with that, the number of customers served during these times has consistently been low, particularly after 5 p.m.

Prior to moving forward with this schedule change, the town solicited input from the public through a survey in the fall of 2022 that garnered nearly 300 responses. While 82 percent of respondents stated the current hours were either “good” or “excellent,” the 5 percent of respondents that rated the hours as “poor” included comments consistent with the anecdotal feedback reported by staff.

The town is attempting to strike a balance between improving our accessibility and customer service while making employment with the town more desirable, and doing all of this in a cost neutral way. We will continue to be open to feedback from the public, and staff, and will adapt as necessary moving forward.

For additional information, the town has published Frequently Asked Questions regarding this change on its website.

Liam Gallagher is assistant town manager/human resources director for Scarborough. He can be reached at lgallagher@scarboroughmaine.org.