Business hours at city hall will not be shortened 30 minutes.

Councilors voted 4-3 at Wednesday’s noon meeting to indefinitely table a motion which if passed, would have closed city hall at 4:30 p.m. effective Jan. 1.

Current business hours are 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the exception of Parks and Recreation office hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, also Monday through Friday.

The 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours apply to city hall offices at 24 N. Center St. and 36 N. Center St. Parks and Recreation is 10 W. State St.

At-Large Councilor Bill Martin made the motion to indefinitely table. First Ward Councilor Sue Cahill seconded the motion. Also voting to table were Third Ward Councilor Mike Gowdy and At-Large Councilor Leon Lamer.

Voting not to table were At-Large Councilor Bethany Wirin, Second Ward Councilor Gabe Isom and Fourth Ward Councilor Al Hoop.

Those voting to table centered arguments on the need to see more data. Proponents of shortened hours previously cited a need to be uniform with Marshall County offices which close at 4:30 p.m. Also cited was a survey of county-seat towns Clinton, Mason City and Ottumwa closing city halls at 4:30 p.m. However, three county-seat towns comparable in size to Marshalltown close at 5 p.m. — Burlington, Fort Dodge and Muscatine.

Mayor Joel Greer, Wirin and Cahill said at the Dec. 10 council meeting it would be helpful to know business hours of other cities comparable in size.

The relative success of Parks and Recreation hours adjusted four years ago to a 4:30 p.m. closing time helped spark conversation to make it city hall-wide. At the Dec. 10 meeting, Kinser said moving the 24 N. Center building and 36 N. Center building to a 4:30 p.m. closing time would make for uniformity. She said a number of local residents believe city hall is closed at 4:30 p.m., resulting in a nominal amount of telephone calls and foot traffic after that time.

“Marshall County offices close at 4:30 p.m., and foot and telephone traffic at city hall is the lightest from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.,” she said. “I recommend we adjust city hall hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.”

At-Large Councilor Leon Lamer took an opposing side then, saying he was concerned for residents who might need the current format to conduct city business.

“I am not in favor of shortening hours,” he said. “Not everyone has the opportunity to leave their work place for 30 minutes or one hour to conduct business or run errands.”

However, Wirin said the 4:30 p.m. closing time would be an inducement to keep quality staff.

“Our staff … because they experienced the tornado … and even before that … I would say they work extremely long hours and saying city hall is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. means they are accessible to the public those hours. There is plenty of work going on behind the scenes.”

Wednesday’s meeting was held at noon, honoring a tradition established a number of years ago the last meeting of the year be held at that time.

The next regular scheduled meeting is 5:30 p.m. Jan. 14 in council chambers.

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Contact Mike Donahey at

641-753-6611 or

mdonahey@timesrepublican.com