Wilton’s Town Hall has been closed to the public since March as part of the steps officials have taken to protect town employees and residents against the transmission of COVID-19. Just like at other workplaces, many town employees worked remotely from home until they were able to return when Connecticut implemented its Phase 1 reopening plan on May 20.
To make the workplace safer, the town has had to make many of the same structural changes that other businesses did–installing sneeze guards and shields where employees would interact with the public and creating other barriers to ensure separation between people.
But residents are still not permitted to enter the Town Hall offices, either the main building or the annex. The town has implemented some procedural changes to allow residents and employees to continue to conduct official business–whether that’s filing taxes and other documents or purchasing transfer station tickets and dog licenses, or a host of other things. There have been drop boxes set up near building entrances, and many town functions have been moved online.
One of the biggest changes in the works is the transformation of the meeting rooms in each of the two main office buildings on the Town Hall campus. Officials removed the meeting tables and will be creating protected cubicle spaces where members of the public will be able to interact with employees. These meeting rooms both have separate entrances which will become the primary way the public will enter and exit the buildings, once they’re again allowed inside.
First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice gave GOOD Morning Wilton a video tour of the changes to give residents an inside look at what adjustments have been made–and share just when the public might be able to get inside again.
Good story, Heather. Nice tour, Lynne. Looks like the town has done a lot of simple, prudent things to keep employees and citizens safe, and probably at a modest cost. Thumbs up!