City says locked doors aren't a security measure
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on February 28, 2018 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A woman walks toward the Goldsboro City Hall annex after reading a sign on the locked front doors of the historic city hall building that all visitors must enter through the annex Tuesday, a new policy that began Monday.
The front doors of Goldsboro's historic City Hall may appear to welcome visitors and residents interested in applying for a job or connecting with community relations staff.
But as of Monday afternoon, the doors were locked in a move to redirect all visitors to the adjacent City Hall annex that now serves as the main entry point to city government offices.
"I want that as the main entrance to City Hall," said Scott Stevens, city manager. "I think it's more inviting.
"We're trying to make it that when folks come to see us, we can get them to the right place and make better use of their time and help get them to where they're trying to get to."
The annex, at 200 N. Center St., is the main building where the majority of city departments, including administration, planning, inspections and customer service, are located.
Historic City Hall, at 214 N. Center St., houses the human resources and community relations departments and a traffic control employee, about nine to 10 employees in all.
The number of visitors to those departments is small in comparison to the annex, Stevens said.
"I would say it's less than 10 a day," he said.
The annex also has several part-time front desk receptionists that are available to direct visitors to different city departments and coordinate meetings with city staff.
Administrators have been considering making the change to the City Hall entrances for nearly two years.
"I've talked about it for a while, why do we have two entrances, and more from a staffing standpoint than, probably, a security standpoint," Stevens said.
"The bigger thing has been from a staffing of making sure I've got an entry point where if somebody comes, there's somebody to say hello. I think that is better customer service."
The doors to historic City Hall and the City Hall annex will remain open during Goldsboro City Council meetings.
While other municipalities across the state have increased security to city government buildings, Goldsboro officials continue to favor public access.
"We're not overly aggressive about security," Stevens said. "I don't have armed guards at City Hall.
"That comes at a cost and an inconvenience to the public that's trying to get here because what we do is the community's money."
Surveillance cameras are located in every city building and other measures have been set in place to protect employees, Stevens said. A Goldsboro police officer is also regularly assigned to Goldsboro City Council meetings.
Other security measures have taken place in recent months, following a decision last year to lock the public restrooms on the first floor of the annex.
The decision was made after repeated problems with people creating unsanitary conditions in the restroom, Stevens said. The restroom can still be used, after requesting a key at the front desk.
This week's decision to lock the doors to historic City Hall is not permanent, as city leaders assess the change in the coming months.
A sign has been added to the front door directing visitors to the annex. A more permanent sign will be added near the building in the future.
"If it creates an undue burden in doing that, then we'll rethink it, but I don't think it will," Stevens said. "If it doesn't work, we'll change it."