New Features of Bristol’s New Town Office Focus on Customer Service and Safety

The new Town Office for Bristol is scheduled to open Thursday, October 24, at 8:00am, and the Town staff looks forward to seeing you in our new facility.

The building located at 5 School Street has been renovated thanks to the support of Bristol voters who approved the acquisition and renovation of the building at the November 2018 Special Town Meeting. What was once a well-known doctor’s office in the area has been transformed into a modern municipal building that should serve the Town for many years.

With the change in venue comes some changes and improvements to the way operations will be carried out. Here are some of the highlights that you can expect:

There will be two main entrances depending on the nature of your business.

If you are looking at the building, the entrance to the left will be for Land Use, Assessing, Permitting and Human Services. You will find this lobby on your left and will be greeted by Peter Daniels or Kelly Lacasse at the service window. With the changing world we live in, we have included the added security window and pass through tray for paperwork. It will take some getting used to, we admit. If they are not there, you will find a courtesy phone that you can pick up and dial an extension to locate other staff who may be able to help you. If your business requires more than the basic question and answer or paperwork, they will come around and greet you through the secured door and bring you to the meeting room set up for your needs.

That main entrance door will also serve as the door to use to access the Administration, Finance and Human Resources offices which are upstairs. At the top of the stairs, there will be a courtesy phone to your left. Just pick up the phone and dial the extension and you’ll be connected to Wendy Smith, Bob Blanchette or me, Nik Coates, who will meet you and answer questions you might have or bring you to an office where we can discuss any private business if that is necessary.

To ensure that you make the most of the time you spend, I will now be blocking off time each day that will be set aside for meetings with Townspeople. All you need to do is call Wendy ahead of time and make an appointment and she can set you up with a time. The times I have set aside for appointments are 1:00-3:00pm each day. If you would like to talk outside of those times, my availability cannot be guaranteed, but we will work to make accommodations.

Some other features included upstairs are a small meeting room for committees and community groups, an employee kitchen, a climate-controlled IT room, and lots of storage.

The second main entrance door will be on the right-hand side of the building. This entrance will bring you to the Town Clerk/Tax Collector. This entrance will also bring you to the main meeting room located on the far right as you face the building.

Some of the great disadvantages of 230 Lake Street was that the lobby was tight, there was no way to have a private conversation, or access to a public restroom. All that has changed for the better.

There will be two service windows, one for Raymah Simpson (Town Clerk/Tax Collector) and the other for Christina Howe (Deputy Town Clerk/Tax Collector), for you to pay your bills, get passes and stickers, register to vote, and take care of other business. The lobby is also spacious and bright with plenty of seating, a water fountain—including bottle filler—a TV display for upcoming events and broadcasts of recent meetings, and an ADA compliant restroom.

This entrance will also be used to access Meeting Room A, the main meeting room. This room is a significant improvement over the current meeting room. The room is 1,000-plus square feet and will seat 40-50 people comfortably and is well lit with natural light from six windows. Technology upgrades will include a TV screen to display items during meetings and video conferencing capabilities and built-in Bristol TV cameras. There will also be a table for people to sit at who wish to present to the Select Board and committees.

At both entrances, there will also be commonly used forms available in trays on the walls so that you can self-serve if you’d like.

Other technological features of the new building include free public wifi and cellular boosters.

We look forward to seeing you on opening day on October 24. If you are unable to make it on opening day, there will be a grand opening celebration including a flag raising by the VFW and light refreshments on Saturday, October 26, 10am-2pm. Coming in November, we will announce dates for tours of the building given by volunteers. By then, you will also get to see a lot of the new artwork from local artists who will be displaying their work on the walls and hallways.

The Town Office staff very much appreciates the support the voters provided in making this project a reality and look forward to working with you!