The Whakatāne District Council’s Commerce Street civic centre is to open one hour later each Wednesday morning, as from 13 August.

From that date, public access to the building will be available from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Wednesdays. Telephone calls will also be affected, with any calls made to the Council between 8:00 and 9:00 am on Wednesday mornings being diverted to the after-hours service. The Council’s normal 8:00 am - 5:00 pm opening hours and telephone services will continue unchanged on other weekdays.

Corporate and Information Services Manager Brian Elliott says the change will allow the Council’s Customer Services team to have a dedicated time for weekly meetings and staff communication and training activities. “Our Customer Services team are the face of the organisation, and it’s essential that they have a regular time when they can get together as a group,” he explains. “This will ensure staff are well-briefed on the key issues they need to communicate to the public, and also provide an opportunity to discuss and develop initiatives which will help us to continue delivering an outstanding service.”

Telephone and face-to-face caller patterns were analysed to establish the least disruptive time for the closure. “We anticipate that it may take some time for people to become accustomed to the change in opening hours and will ensure that, for the first few weeks at least, staff will be stationed at the building’s public access points to explain the change,” Mr Elliott concludes.