County Managers Seek Options for a Return to 5-Day Business Week

Ventura County government managers have been ordered to come up with options to current four-day work schedules as an early step toward reopening county government for business five days a week.

Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester this week directed managers of each department to compile plans for county supervisors, who want to dump the shortened workweek that has bedeviled them through complaints from an angry and inconvenienced public.

“We would hope to open facilities five days a week,” Koester said of the budding plan to restore full weekday service. He wants the staff analysis completed by March 19 so he can submit recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for action.

Already staff members in several agencies are studying another option for reducing smog: converting the county’s fleet of vehicles to cleaner-burning fuels.

The developments come as Sheriff Larry Carpenter joined in the chorus of criticism of the compressed work schedule that shuts down most county operations on Fridays.

“We have the same problem the public has,” Carpenter said. The sheriff’s administration, district attorney’s staff members and the courts have remained on a five-day schedule, but cannot conduct business with other county agencies on Fridays.

The frustrating experience has Carpenter sympathizing with the public.

“Our sole purpose to exist is to serve the public,” he said. “We need to find ways to extend that service, not retract it.”

Ending the four-day workweek became possible last month when the federal government eased its air pollution rules. In response, the county’s Air Pollution Control District last week formally proposed new smog-control rules that give the county more flexibility in helping to keep the air clean.

The County Board of Supervisors adopted the four-day schedule 2 1/2 years ago to satisfy air pollution rules requiring large employers to reduce the number of vehicles making the morning commute to work.

The idea was to compress the 40-hour workweek into four 10-hour days and thus eliminate the need for about 2,400 county employees to drive their air-polluting vehicles to work Fridays.

But Congress and President Clinton last month eliminated the section of the Clean Air Act requiring employers of 100 or more people to reduce work-related vehicle trips. Instead, employers have newfound flexibility to do their part to help reduce air pollution.

Koester said one option the county will explore is to begin converting the county’s fleet of 1,050 vehicles from diesel and gasoline to cleaner-burning natural gas.

A recent study by the county’s General Services Agency concluded that compressed natural gas should be the county’s alternative fuel of choice because it is readily available and cheaper than gasoline.

And Supervisor Frank Schillo is pushing Southern California Gas Co. to build a natural gas fueling station at the Government Center. He brought the idea up during negotiations to renew the Gas Company’s long-term lease for gas lines under county roadways.

Howard Rickard, the county’s deputy director of general services, said about 70 of the county’s vehicles could be converted to natural gas. That number could expand as vehicles wear out and come up for replacement.

*

Carpenter said he is willing to take the lead on the conversion of the Sheriff’s Department’s 126 patrol cars if natural gas-burning vehicles stand up to scrutiny on safety and performance.

“I’m not one to study things for three years,” he said. “I’d like to get it done.”

The Sheriff’s Department is testing one patrol car that runs on natural gas, with a second one on the way.

Ford now offers a natural gas-burning Crown Victoria with all the extras required for police patrols, Rickard said. Buying such cars directly from the manufacturer, he said, can eliminate the cost of converting them to clean-burning fuels.

Under newly proposed rules by the county’s Air Pollution Control District, the county, or other large employers, could get credit for converting fleets of cars to cleaner-burning vehicles.

That is one of an array of options for large employers to help meet the county’s clean-air goals, other than requiring employees to share rides, use public transportation or ride a bike.

Another option for big employers would be to pay air pollution officials an average of about $67 a year per worker. The money would be pooled in an account for special projects to clean up the air, such as converting dirty diesel engines to cleaner-burning fuel.

Employers could also earn credits by buying old, heavily polluting cars to get them off the road, or subsidize the conversion of off-road tractors to clean-burning fuel.

Under the proposed rules, big businesses or other employers could keep their trip-reduction plans. They could also use a combination of ride-sharing and other methods to reach pollution-reduction targets.

“The key is flexibility,” said Richard H. Baldwin, the county’s air pollution control officer. He has scheduled a Feb. 7 public workshop on the proposed rules that cover 210 local businesses and public agencies collectively employing about 75,000 workers.

*

Baldwin hopes to have the new rules in place within three to six months.

Koester has instructed Alan N. Bandoli, the county’s employee transportation coordinator, to review these rule changes and determine what it would take to return to a five-day-a-week operation.

Bandoli believes the county will keep some sort of trip-reduction plan, but augment it with another approach to meet its required reduction in air pollution. “We are looking at all those options and what mix of them would meet our goal at the lowest cost,” he said.

In a memo to county department managers last week, Koester stressed it is not his intention to eliminate compressed workweeks for all employees.

By using staggered shifts, he said, some departments may be able to keep some employees on four-day weeks and still remain open five days a week. Other employees might move toward adopting a schedule popular among many government agencies: nine-hour days, with every other Friday off.

“I want to allow each agency/department the flexibility to use variable scheduling while still providing acceptable levels of public access and service five days a week,” Koester said.

*

Barry L. Hammitt, executive director of the Service Employees International Union, Local 998, said his membership is not wedded to a particular schedule. But the vast majority favors the four-day week and wants management to remain flexible.

Hammitt said he will be pushing to bring any change in work schedules to the bargaining table.

“Where management runs into problems with the union is when they try to make one size fit everybody,” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily fit their lifestyles and their needs.”

Richard Dean, the county’s clerk and recorder, said most of his employees would have to return to a regular eight-hour day if the county wants his counters to remain open five days a week.

His employees juggle the heaviest flow of residents entering the Hall of Administration, seeking everything from marriage licenses to filing a trust deed.

“Unlike some departments, I cannot have alternative work schedules,” Dean said. “I’ll go back to a standard day.”