A couple of important areas in Estevan’s city hall have been receiving a makeover.
The need for the renovations started after the City of Estevan assumed responsibility for economic development and tourism services from the Estevan Chamber of Commerce last year, according to Jeff Ward, the city manager and acting city treasurer.
“We realized we didn’t have the space in city hall to do that correctly,” said Ward. “We realized there was wasted space downstairs, so we made a shared service.”
The biggest change saw the bill payment area shifted to the downstairs floor, creating a location where people can make inquiries about property taxes, utilities and other city services.
“We really want to work on customer service, making sure your phone calls get to the right people,” said Ward. “We’re looking at phone systems to make sure it will work and make sure everyone’s trained appropriately.”
Ward noted they could make use of the downstairs board room if members of the public want to meet with him or Mayor Roy Ludwig.
As for the upstairs, where bill payments used to be made, the city now has the room to build three more office spaces, including the needed spaces for economic development officer Manpreet Sangha and destination marketing and communications consultant Rebecca Westling.
They will also have room to accommodate new additions to their staff.
The downstairs work is finished, and they have started the upstairs renovations. They still need to determine which panels they need for the upstairs offices. They also won’t have to purchase new office furnishings, such as desks, since those are already in place.
Painting and flooring have already begun.
“Depending on how long the panels take, we could be up and running within the next month or two, and be fully functional,” said Ward.
Ward believes the renovations to city hall will create efficiencies for the public.
“A lot of times there were some elderly people who came in and went downstairs, and they were told they had to go upstairs to make their bill payment,” said Ward. “We want it to be centralized. You come in, you look down, you see it’s all remodelled, it looks nice and it looks professional.”
The renovations have a budgeted cost of $50,000, but Ward suspects they might not use all of the money.
“We had to buy very little equipment,” said Ward. “This involves repurposing the stuff we have into a better configuration. We have not had to buy any more office furniture for this renovation.”
The city received some criticism for using an out-of-business for the project, but Ward countered that the company was merely brought in to take the desks and panels apart and move them downstairs, as part of their warranty. Ward stressed the city wants to shop locally as much as possible.
