By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer
EATONTOWN — Residents who find it inconvenient — or impossible — to get to Borough Hall during the day to do business may soon have evening hours one night a month in which to tend to their transactions.
The Borough Council, at its workshop meeting Dec. 4, discussed and seemed to agree on extending the hours that some borough offices are open for a few hours once a month, beginning sometime after the first of the year, so that residents can pay bills, apply for permits and ask questions.
Borough Business Administrator Michael L. Trotta said a skeleton staff could be kept on by adjusting work schedules for the day.
"Some people who need things have a very difficult time getting here by 4:30," he told the council.
Kathee Stouffer, the assistant business administrator, reported that she had checked with some other towns and found they are open until 7:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. one night a month to accommodate residents.
Stouffer said that in the meantime, the drop box that Councilman John J. Collins had urged to be set up for residents to deposit the payment of municipal bills at night or on weekends would be ready by Jan. 1.
Trotta said the location for the drop box has not been determined as yet.
Councilman Theodore F. Lewis Jr., who is the construction official in Long Branch and Monmouth Beach, suggested they consider opening on Saturday.
He told about his two different experiences in the towns where he works.
In Long Branch, Lewis said, he extended the hour to which his office is open from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and he thought that in the last year he had maybe four people come in during that extra hour. On the other hand, he said, his office in Monmouth Beach is open from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday "and I get a ton of people coming in" — homeowners, not contractors.
Councilwoman Joyce A. Englehart, however, said she thought it was asking a lot to ask borough hall employees to come to work on Saturday.
Trotta said Saturday presented a problem because the union contract requires that office workers who are called in on Saturday be paid for a minimum of four hours. He said that would result in either a lot of overtime or comp time.
Asked on what day the borough offices might be kept open in the evening, Stouffer said they were thinking in terms of Wednesday.
Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo suggested putting the idea of evening hours in the borough newsletter and seeing what the reaction to it is.
If you have a comment on the possible extension of borough business hours one day a month, you can e-mail your opinion to us at aville@gmnews.com. All responses, unless otherwise requested, will be forwarded to the borough administrator.