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Umatilla Stepping Up Security At City Hall

    The City of Umatilla is revamping operations at city hall, undertaking a project designed to increase worker efficiency and safety.  Officials this week said within the next several weeks, the city is expected to complete an expansive renovation that will alter public flow inside city hall and create more office space for employees.
    The project, estimated at $50,000, will convert city hall's main entrance to a breezeway area that currently serves as a walkthrough between the building's main office area and the city council/building department wing.  Two customer service windows will be created, one to handle billing and another to serve customers of the building department. Those windows will serve as the public's initial access to city hall, with those who need additional services buzzed through secure doors.
    Umatilla City Manager Aaron Mercer undertook the project as one of his first priorities after taking over the position earlier this year, following an altercation involving a customer who acted inappropriately toward a city employee.  A second, near-violent confrontation has more recently confirmed the manager's belief that city employees should be as safe as possible while at work.
    “It’s a bit severe,” Mercer said this week, “But… (people) are out there threatening staff over doing their job.”
    Mercer said he believes the two windows will be well able to handle the pace of customers to city hall, noting that foot traffic to the office has decreased ‘by 80%’ in recent years as online bill pay options have grown in popularity.
    “Traffic has reduced significantly.”
    The latest renovation of the building is just the most recent in a building that has served as Umatilla's center of government since the early 1960s.  When constructed, the building housed a community center along its south end, a commercial kitchen, and most of the city's employees.  It has been renovated and reimagined on several occasions over the years, as city staff levels have grown and more office space was needed.  The public works department moved to an office behind the Umatilla Police Department, and the community room was split into a new city council meeting chamber and the building department.