One year ago this month, Penticton City Hall cut its hours in half in response to the pandemic. Now it is the only remaining municipal hall that hasn’t returned to regular hours of operation.
City Hall remains with reduced hours from 9 a.m. to noon; and the city isn’t sure it will go back to regular hours anytime soon.
“The city recognizes that many municipalities have returned to full hours. We are currently evaluating our public opening hours to determine if changes need to occur here,” said city communication manager Philip Cooper.
The city of Penticton reduced its open hours in March 2020 in a response to the pandemic.
Since then, the city has noticed a significant uptick in the use of online services and virtual customer interactions via email and telephone.
“This reduced face-to-face contact has been an important step with minimizing the risk of COVID-19 spread,” said Cooper.
Even though City Hall is presently open to the public from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. (or by appointment outside those times), all the work still exists and staff are working full-time hours to serve the public, he added.
Municipal offices and city halls in Summerland, Kelowna, West Kelowna, Osoyoos, Oliver, Salmon Arm, Vernon and Keremeos have returned to regular hours.
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