“August 10th marked the start of the Hunting License Season. As we have done at Greece Town Hall since the start of the COVID-19 shut down period, we have monitored crowds, access to services, etc. I am proud that here in Greece we opened up our doors safely and without incident on May 18th. Many towns are still not open to the public for services or have been offering limited services by appointment only. We have tried to remain flexible and watchful and have empowered our department heads to keep us informed as public interaction reaches numbers that will make social distancing difficult. We have also tried to balance the public’s desire to get back to a bit of “business as usual,” Greece Town Supervisor Bill Reilich said.
Our Town Clerk, after evaluating opening day for hunting licenses, shared her concerns regarding:
1 – The number of people that were at the service counter area.
2 – That the New York State DEC this season is only allowing one computer and one printer for processing the licenses at our facility.
The computer issue was troubling before we even witnessed the number of people waiting to get their licenses and the backup it is causing is most concerning. A few weeks ago we reached out to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and expressed our concerns about only having one processing computer this year (in the past we had a second machine), but they do not appear to be moving toward allowing an additional computer. This is, as you can imagine, very disappointing as we strive to maintain social distancing while serving our residents. The fact that only one clerk can process licenses caused a backup and the result was having too many people in the area waiting.
To lessen the number of individuals in our Service Mall and to provide more timely processing, starting August 12th we will begin working on an “appointment only” basis for the issuance of hunting licenses. Residents that are interesting in obtaining their license can call our Town Clerk’s office at 723-2341. We also have two additional numbers for Town Clerk Staff: 723-2364 and 723-2389. Residents that would like to make their hunting license appoint are free to call anytime between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. We are looking forward to providing a more personalized service approach that not only meets the needs of convenience but continues to prioritize safety.
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