PARIS — The Paris Select Board approved changing the town office hours to have a longer day Wednesday and a half-day on Friday.

Select Board member Chris Summers abstained from the vote during the July 8 regular meeting.

The hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday. The office will be closed for a 30-minute lunch break from 12:30-1 p.m., every day except for Friday, when the office will close early.

The change will take effect the first week of September, on the day after Labor Day – Tuesday, Sept. 3 – as the office will be closed on Labor Day.

After some discussion among the select board members, it was agreed that the town would stick with the half-hour lunch break so all employees would be guaranteed time to eat lunch no matter how busy the town office is.

“I believe we still need that lunch,” select board member Peter Kilgore said.

Also on July 8, the board approved updating the town’s personnel and purchasing policies.

The personnel policy is largely remaining the same. The changes involved adding Juneteenth as a town office holiday, eliminating earned paid leave for full-time employees, and stipulating that employees will not be paid out for earned paid leave at the end of employment.

Earned paid leave was added to the town policy as a result of a state law requiring it for nearly all employees that went into effect in 2021. However, since full-time employees have vacation time available, earned paid leave is not necessary for them, Town Manager Natalie Andrews explained.

The purchasing policy was updated to allow the town manager to approve any purchases under $10,000 without following competitive bid processes. This limit was raised from $5,000.

“That means that you start the bidding process at $10,000,” Andrews said.

Andrews confirmed she will still be soliciting as many quotes as possible for all jobs, in order to find the best price. The higher limit simply does not require the formal bid process and the acquisition of at least three separate bids to be followed if the purchase is under $10,000.

Andrews said that $5,000 in purchasing power is not enough for the town manager. She said that if she is working on gathering quotes and needs to make a decision quickly, waiting two weeks for a select board meeting does not work.

Kilgore voted “no” on the purchasing policy update.

In other news, the Paris Police Department received a $500 gift card donation from Young’s Greenhouse because the High Street business was grateful for the placement of a speed sign to slow down traffic in the vicinity.

“They were so happy with the radar sign being put on High Street,” Andrews said.

The Paris Select Board will next meet at the town office at 6 p.m. July 22.