Lehighton hopes a few subtle changes will help streamline its billing office workflow.

Councilman Ryan Saunders said he met with the office staff, and suggested to borough council on Monday about putting a sign on the billing office door to close by 4 p.m.

“The general public will have every opportunity to pay their utilities as they always have, the night drop is there 24/7, or there’s a slot in the door they can always drop it in,” Saunders said. “They still have every means possible of paying their bills, the only change is they will only have until 4 p.m. to see them in person.”

Additionally, he said it would include the office staff not having to answer phone calls after 4 p.m. as well.

“The objective of closing the doors to the general public at 4 p.m. is to allow the billing office to get caught up at the end of the day so that they’re not starting the next day behind trying to finish up things from the previous day,” Saunders said. “This will help them to be more efficient starting the next day.”

Saunders said another recommendation is changing the borough’s phone system - they are the first option when people call the office.

He suggested having them go back to the back of the extension list.

“They’re essentially taking all the calls for the borough,” he said. “When you call the borough’s general phone system, the utility office is the first extension; they essentially end up being the secretary for the entire building, and that takes away a lot of time from their jobs, whereas I believe the borough secretary should be fielding the general mailbox and general questions for the borough.”

Saunders said those two changes should help greatly.

Council then made a motion to advertise putting a sign on the door and changing the telephone system.