BAKER CITY – Beginning July 1 all Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative (OTEC) offices will begin opening for business and answering telephones at 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.

“The purpose of opening for business at 9 a.m. is to improve service and reduce costs to members,” said Steve Schauer, OTEC manager of member services. “This first hour of work time each day will allow employees to participate in important employee training, hold department meetings and allow for concentrated attention to detailed work projects without interruption of telephone calls or walk-in traffic.”

Schauer said that the staff has tried to hold meetings between telephone calls, members paying bills or making changes to their electric accounts, but that didn’t work well.

“We believe that opening the doors and answering telephone calls at 9 a.m. gives employees the hour for quality training time, departmental meetings and quality communication, resulting in better service to our members,” he said.

Should a power outage occur during the early training time, however, the telephone lines will be opened for communications with members to restore power as quickly as possible, he said.