By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp — Starting on June 27, the Brandon Township offices, 395 Mill Street, Ortonville, will have different operating hours. The building will be open to the public 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. on Wednesday and 8:30 a.m.-noon on Fridays. The work day for employees will begin at 8 a.m.
“We’ve been reviewing township office hours for the past six or seven weeks, and I asked employees to keep track of traffic on Fridays, whether it be phone calls or counter visits, and they have done that for us,” said supervisor Jayson Rumball. “As you can see, the numbers on Friday, for traffic, are pretty minimal across pretty much all offices in the township.”
The township board voted 5-2 to adopt the new hours beginning June 27, 2022. Treasurer Scott Broughton and trustee Bob Marshall voted against the new hours.
“I’m not a big fan of this,” said Marshall. “My number one concern is the methodology on the study you did, because I have nothing to compare it to. I don’t know what the normal traffic on normal hours is.”
Nearby townships Atlas and Groveland have similar hours, as they are open until 7 p.m. one day a week with reduced hours or completely closed on Fridays.
“I think it’s a good idea because we have many residents who work until 5 p.m. and how are they supposed to get here?” said trustee Dana DePalma.
One point brought up was that both the clerk’s office and the treasurer’s office are mandated to be open until 5 p.m. certain days of the year, such as the day before taxes are due or certain days during an election season, which would result in overtime for those employees. The current hours still result in some overtime during busy times of the year.
“We also tracked that during a slow time. Those numbers would be completely different during tax season, during voting season,” said Broughton. “I think comparing us to Groveland and Atlas in this situation is wrong. We have twice the parcels, that means twice the tax-payers, twice the voters, they don’t have parks and rec, they don’t have a senior center, there’s no comparison.”
The change in hours will not affect the Edna Burton Senior Center. The township will not be open to the public or accepting calls prior to 8:30 a.m. Anyone with questions can call the township offices at 248-627-4918.