Starting this week, Hollister City Hall will open on Fridays
after about two years with its doors closed on the final business
day of each week. City Manager Clint Quilter announced the change
at Monday’s council meeting. It now will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday, while closing a noon for the lunch hour.
HOLLISTER
Starting this week, Hollister City Hall will open on Fridays after about two years with its doors closed on the final business day of each week.
City Manager Clint Quilter announced the change at Monday’s council meeting. Hollister City Hall now will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, while closing a noon for the lunch hour.
Council members approved the closing of city offices on Fridays after the defeat in November 2006 of Measure R, a proposal to raise the sales tax by 1 percent. Voters approved a similar proposal a year later and in April 2008 it took effect.
The policy to close city offices on Fridays, meanwhile, started on Feb. 12, 2007.
While Hollister City Hall’s main offices upstairs will be open on Fridays, the often busy finance office downstairs will maintain its Monday through Thursday hours, the city manager said. Quilter, however, noted that officials are moving toward changing finance office hours to Tuesday through Friday – to accommodate many residents who are paid at week’s end.
He said the finance office will stay open four days a week to allow staff that set aside time, to work on mandatory reporting, without residents’ inquiries.
“There’s a lot of reporting for the state and the auditors and things,” Quilter said.
Other city offices, such as the police department and planning department, also will remain closed on Fridays in the time being so employees “have a day to work on projects,” Quilter said.
“They (other departments) probably don’t have as much walk-in traffic as city hall would,” he said.
