WATERVILLE — City Hall has officially reopened after having been closed to the public for more than two months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

People visiting City Hall are asked to enter through the side door by Castonguay Square and follow guidelines set forth by the state.

“We are asking everyone who visits City Hall to come wearing a mask as part of the executive orders about people in public places,” City Manager Michael Roy said Tuesday. “We believe it’s clear that people are to wear masks — face coverings — unless they have medical issues or other reasons why they can’t. If that’s the case, we’ll certainly meet with people outside the building or in a way that nobody’s at risk.”

The floor in City Hall is marked so that people practice social distancing and only a certain number of people are allowed in the building at one time, according to Roy.

“The floor is taped to show people which direction to take and where to stop so proper distancing is achieved,” he said.

City Hall and all its departments are open to the public from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. A city employee will greet people at the door to help ensure guidelines are practiced. Roy said previous hours were 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., but City Hall will close at 4:30 p.m. for a while, so that if a lot of people are waiting in line, staff will be able to keep serving them until 5 p.m.

City employees wear masks while working with the public, Roy said.

All eighteen City Hall employees are back working inside the building, having gradually returned over the last two weeks, according to Roy.

“There was a core of us that stayed from the beginning, when we closed, to right now — a core of six,” he said.

City Hall has been closed to the public since March 15. A soft opening was held at City Hall last week but was not advertised, so staff could get a sense of how it would work with the new guidelines. Officials began admitting the public to the building on Monday.

Roy said that so far, the public’s return has gone smoothly. People have been coming in to pay taxes, register vehicles and boats and do other transactions.

“People have been very cooperative,” Roy said Tuesday. “Most people are wearing masks — not all. I would say eight out of 10 are. Beginning tomorrow, we’re going to ask people to wear masks and we do have some available right at the entrance.”

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