2 Supervisors Feud Over Day-Off Plan for County Workers : Government: Riley criticizes Stanton, who has called Friday closure program a failure, for how little time he spends at office.

Board Chairman Thomas F. Riley on Thursday criticized Supervisor Roger R. Stanton’s attack on a controversial county work plan and questioned Stanton’s own work ethic.

“I think it’s true that Roger’s time in the office is far less than any other supervisors’,” Riley said. “He claims he goes to lunches and events, but we go to a lot of those too.”

Riley comments came in response to Stanton’s campaign to halt a work plan that closes most county offices every other Friday. Stanton has blasted two staff reports, which are supportive of the work plan, because he says they overestimate cost savings of the program.

“You start asking some hard questions and people are going to cloud the issue with this kind of nonsense,” Stanton said, defending his work habits. “I think job performance of a public official is to represent the public and I’m doing my job 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When I appear at a public forum at one of my cities I’m doing my job. If people want me to come to an event I go.”

The issue has sparked heated debate within the Hall of Administration with many county workers supporting the plan and Stanton meeting with his colleagues to persuade them to abandon it, including visiting Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder at home to discuss the issue.

So far, only Riley and Stanton have taken firm positions on the work plan. The other board members say they are still studying the issue. The board is expected to vote on the work plan at Tuesday’s meeting.

“It was supposed to save us money and it failed,” Stanton said Friday.

Stanton has further assailed the plan because sick leave hours have increased since the change began, and he contends it actually may cost the county as much as $500,000 a year. Riley has defended the county staff against Stanton’s criticism and said he believes “the people who work in the county are very dedicated. . . . I think it is negative to be critical.”

Other board members tried to steer clear of the debate over Stanton’s work habits. Although some county officials have privately noted the irony between Stanton’s stance and their observations that he often is away from the office during business hours.

“I’m relatively new to the board and so is my staff and we have to spend a lot time in the office,” said Supervisor William G. Steiner. “Roger has been in office 13 years and has an excellent staff so his time in the office perhaps does not have to be as much as a priority than it is for me.”

Wieder declined to discuss the issue Friday. Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez could not be reached for comment.

The work habits of Stanton’s staff also have come under scrutiny. According to recently released county records, Stanton’s staff has logged more sick leave hours than any other board member’s office during the past two years.

Stanton said his staff, who work on every Friday regardless of the county plan, have had legitimate reasons for using sick leave. He said one staff member has a degenerative joint illness and another has had two troubled pregnancies.

“I don’t think anyone would suggest we fire sick or pregnant employees,” Stanton said. Furthermore, he said his employees have to schedule doctor appointments during their work hours because they don’t take off Fridays.

“I’m not going to make allegations against other board offices, but my staff is very diligent about filing their sick leave,” he said.

Stanton said he was not going to let “the detractors try to deflect the public’s attention away from the real issue. I’m going to keep focused.”

As part of that focus, Stanton has been calling other board members with information that he believes disputes the staff’s report on the work plan, trying to explain to them why he thinks the work plan should be ended.

Under the 22-month-old work plan, nearly three dozen county facilities, which offer public services such as welfare assistance, health care, building permits and tax collection, are closed every other Friday. Even though Stanton said he believes the practice should be ended, he said he still favors giving employees flexible work schedules provided that county offices are open Monday through Friday.