County to Consider a Return to 5-Day Week

A majority of Ventura County supervisors said Wednesday that they will reconsider the county’s four-day workweek now that the federal government has lifted requirements for getting cars off the road during peak traffic hours.

County Chief Administrator Lin Koester said he plans to prepare a report for the board by March outlining new options for meeting the county’s clean-air goals that would allow most government offices to remain open on Fridays.

Koester said the county would look at developing other flexible work schedules and converting county-owned vehicles to run on alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas.

“We’ll prepare a report on the alternatives and their costs, take it to the Board of Supervisors and let them decide if they would rather go back to a five-day workweek,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thousand Oaks officials said they also are exploring the possibility of reopening City Hall offices five days a week. The city is the only one in the county that closes most of its departments on Fridays.

“I’m certainly in favor of it,” Mayor Andy Fox said.

At the county, Koester has been outspoken in his support of abandoning the four-day, 40-hour workweek since he was hired by the county last spring.

“Some employees would like it, and some wouldn’t,” he said. “But the bottom line is we’re here to provide a service to the public and there are a number of people inconvenienced because we’re not open five days a week.”

Supervisors Judy Mikels, Frank Schillo and John Flynn said they all favor opening county offices on Fridays again.

“I’ve made no secret of the fact that I don’t want the county on a four-day workweek,” Mikels said. “It’s such a silly inconvenience. I don’t think it’s done anything for air quality.”

Schillo agreed.

“We need to be looking at other alternatives,” he said. “The public has to be served. They are our clients, our customers.”

The county implemented a four-day workweek for most departments in June 1993 to comply with federal air pollution laws aimed at keeping cars off the road during the morning and afternoon commutes. The courts and sheriff’s offices, however, remain open five days a week.

The shorter workweek was intended to help the county meet 1997 federal requirements for an average of 1.5 people per vehicle, equal to three people for every two cars driven to work sites. By compressing the employees’ schedules to four 10-hour days, the county eliminated one-fifth of the daily commutes for 2,000 employees that participate in the program.

This made it easier for the county to reach the goal of averaging 1.5 riders per vehicle.

But Mikels, who was elected to the board last year along with Schillo, said Wednesday that while the county has cut the number of vehicles on the road by closing the Hall of Administration one day a week, she is not convinced it significantly reduces smog.

“Quite frankly, I don’t see this as anything other than a shell game,” she said. “The way it is now, the rules are more important than the outcome. With the new law, the outcome is going to be more important.”

Board Chairwoman Maggie Kildee said she supports considering other options to the reduced workweek, but expressed concerns on how changes would affect employees who have already arranged their lives around the current schedule.

“A lot of people would have to adjust their child-care schedules,” she said. “I think we have to balance the impact it has on the public with that of our employees.”

Koester said one option the county might consider would be opening the Hall of Administration five days a week, but with reduced staffing on Fridays. He said the county could juggle work schedules in such a way that employees could take every other Friday off.

“We could leave the scheduling up to the various departments and agencies,” he said.

Barry Hammitt, director of the Service Employees International Union, the county’s largest union, said he believes employees would much prefer an alternative work schedule than to go back to a regular five-day workweek.

“I think if the board and Lin Koester approach this with an open mind, we can satisfy the needs of everyone,” Hammitt said.

Koester said it is estimated that the county saves about $190,000 annually on utilities and other expenses by closing the Hall of Administration every Friday. He said, however, that he plans to verify these figures and provide a more detailed cost analysis to the board in his report in March.

Another option the board will very likely consider is converting its fleet of sheriff’s cars and public works vehicles to run on alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas or electricity, Koester said. In all, the county operates about 1,000 vehicles.

Although this would be an expensive option, Koester said the county could do this slowly over five to eight years.

“We could phase it in,” he said. “But if that’s the way we want to go, I think it would be better to start now rather than to wait a year or two.”

The county’s General Services Agency has already purchased two cars fueled by compressed natural gas and will consider additional future purchases, officials said.