County Puts End to Closing Offices on Alternate Fridays : Government: Supervisors scrap controversial work plan after expected cost savings fail to materialize.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday ended a controversial work plan that closes county offices on alternate Fridays in favor of a plan that keeps offices open five days a week while still giving employees flexible work schedules.

*

The unanimous vote capped nearly three weeks of heated debate among supervisors on whether to continue the 22-month-old work plan.

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton led the campaign against continuation of the work plan, saying it failed to reach cost-saving goals.

He assailed two county staff reports that supported the plan, contending that they overestimated the cost-savings benefits from cuts in utility usage, custodial services and sick leave. The first report said the program saved the county nearly $1 million, and the revised report recalculated the savings at $271,000.

Stanton said he figured that the plan, which had an original goal of saving $1.1 million a year, ended up costing the county as much as $500,000.

“The plan was an experiment where the projected savings did not materialize,” Stanton told his colleagues Tuesday. “We should have our doors open five days a week.”

Under the existing work plan, nearly three dozen county facilities, offering such services as welfare assistance, health care, building permits and tax collection, are closed every other Friday. The offices are open longer during the week to make up for Friday shutdowns.

Officials say the plan is widely supported among the county’s 16,000 employees.

While board members said they are sensitive to employee morale, they were more concerned about providing full public access to county facilities every working day.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said she found it “hard to justify what we have been doing” if the cost savings did not pan out.

She joined Stanton in proposing a modified work plan that allows flexible work schedules for employees provided that offices are open five days a week. Board Chairman Thomas F. Riley, who said he wanted to continue the current work plan, reluctantly joined the four other supervisors in supporting the modified plan.

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said he expects the new plan to be in effect by the end of the year.

“The numbers just didn’t materialize,” Schneider said of the current work plan. “We’ll get ready to implement the new plan.”

Nick Berardino, a spokesman for the Orange County Employees Assn., said his members will not object to the new plan.

Over the past three weeks, Stanton had gathered the support of county department heads and lobbied his fellow board members in an effort to sink the existing work plan.

But Stanton’s campaign made him the target of attacks regarding his own work habits. Riley chided Stanton, contending that the supervisor logged the least time in the office of any supervisor. Stanton defended his work ethic and called the remarks against him attempts to “divert” the public attention from the work-plan issue.