Supervisors OK plan for closures in response to mandated
furlough days for employees
Most county offices will close on additional days over the next
two years to accommodate employee furloughs mandated recently to
save money.
Supervisors OK plan for closures in response to mandated furlough days for employees
Most county offices will close on additional days over the next two years to accommodate employee furloughs mandated recently to save money.
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors this week approved a resolution that approves the closure of numerous offices on Columbus Day in October, Lincoln’s birthday in February and Cesar Chavez Day in March – days that until now were workdays. What’s more, many offices will close on certain days during Thanksgiving week and the week between Christmas and the New Year.
Because county employees are required to take up to 15 unpaid furlough days in each of the next two fiscal years as part of a county cost-cutting plan, county management analyst Jacki Credico told supervisors on Tuesday that: “The ability to keep county offices open while scheduling furlough days, vacation days, typical holidays and other paid leave for county employees would be very difficult.”
So, the prudent step, Credico said, is “to close some county offices entirely and have all the affected employees take furlough days during those closures.”
Most offices, including the agriculture commissioner, building and planning, child support services, clerk-elections-recorder, the library, public works and the UC Cooperative Extension – among others – will also be closed on Nov. 25, Dec. 24 and Dec. 28-31, which are typically slow times of the year.
The Health and Human Services offices, including public assistance [welfare] and child and adult protective services, will be closed on fewer days: Nov. 25, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve – in addition to the Columbus, Lincoln and Chavez holidays.
The Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office will close on those three holidays as well, and the D.A. plans to close the third Wednesday of each month beginning in September, following the lead of the San Benito County courts.
No closure days are planned for the county probation office, CalFire or the Veteran’s Services Office, which is staffed by employees of Monterey County.
“To determine the best way to accommodate county office closures, it was determined that the county could close on those days when other state and/or local agencies have holidays that the county does not celebrate” with days off, Credico said. “Also, there are certain times during the fiscal year when workloads are less burdensome,” such as November and December.
The county office closures also prompted the cancellation of supervisors’ meetings that had been scheduled for Nov. 24, Jan. 5 and Nov. 23, 2010, and Jan. 4 2011.
“That is necessary because there would not be ample time to prepare agenda packets and other relevant board information and notifications due to offices being closed,” Credico said.
Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz said he preferred that all nine of the planned office closure days coincide with state holidays – not just days with typically less foot traffic – but Supervisors Pat Loe and Anthony Botelho said the plan as proposed would leave more offices open to the public on more days, even if those offices were occasionally short-staffed.
The board ultimately voted 4-1 in favor of the closure plan, with De La Cruz opposed.
