Businesses Say ‘Closed Fridays’ Policy Time-Consuming, Costly

Contractor Greg Flachmeier was steamed.

He had just driven 150 miles from San Diego to pick up plans for a Ventura County public works project so that his construction firm could bid on the estimated $860,000 job.

But Flachmeier found a surprise waiting for him when he arrived at the county Hall of Administration early Friday: The doors were locked.

“I had no idea they would be closed,” he said, shaking his head.

Two and a half years after implementing a four-day workweek to help the county meet its clean-air goals, people like Flachmeier still wander up to the Hall of Administration on Fridays only to find themselves locked out.

Flachmeier said he never thought to call ahead. He just assumed the Hall of Administration would be open, like businesses and governments everywhere else. He fished out of his pocket a notice from the public works department requesting bids on the drainage project.

He read it over carefully. The flier made no mention of county offices being closed on Fridays.

“I’m out an entire day,” Flachmeier said. “My company is going to lose about $400. They have to pay my salary and for my vehicle. It’s not cheap.”

Flachmeier is not alone in his frustration.

Jim DaPra, president of J.F. DaPra General Contractors of Ventura, said the county’s four-day workweek means that his company cannot get building permits or inspections on Fridays.

“I can’t get permits for dry-wall nailing or pouring foundations,” he said. “I can’t keep a job in progress.”

Local real estate brokers and title company officials raise some of the loudest complaints about the four-day workweek. With the county clerk and recorders’ office closed on Friday, they said that some home buyers find themselves unable to close escrow on a new house until the following Monday.

This means they may have to pay three days worth of interest on a home loan--roughly $40 a day on a current $200,000 loan--without being able to move in to their new house, said David Smolen, a Century 21 real estate broker.

“It’s a pain in the butt,” Smolen said of the recorder’s office being closed on Fridays. “This is the stupidest thing they ever did.”

As it is, many holidays fall on a Monday, which means that the county’s three-day weekend can grow even longer and costlier for home buyers, Smolen said. Closing government offices on Monday would have made more sense, he said.

“If they had to pick a day, Friday was the worst day they could have picked,” he said.