County May Revive 5-Day Workweek

The Board of Supervisors seems ready to return county employees to a five-day workweek, despite a report that estimates such a move would mean losing nearly $900,000 in annual savings.

The board is scheduled to consider the issue at its regular meeting Tuesday.

A majority of the board has gone on record as being in favor of county employees working eight hours a day, five days a week instead of four 10-hour days.

That would allow the Ventura County Government Center to open its doors Monday through Friday for the first time in almost three years.

“I think there is a great sensitivity on the part of the board now to return to keeping the county offices open five days a week,” Supervisor John Flynn said. “The votes are there.”

One likely impediment is that the union that represents most county employees is opposed to resuming the previous schedule.

But that problem could be circumvented by staggering work hours, Flynn said.

The county made the switch to the four-day week in 1993 because federal smog-reduction efforts required large employers to cut the number of workers driving to their jobs.

President Clinton rescinded that mandate last December.

A county report notes that reverting to the regular work schedule would cost an additional $565,700 a year, including $295,700 for utilities and other fixed expenses.

The change would also eliminate total annual savings of $898,000, the report said.

Flynn said he doesn’t buy those figures, calling the research “flimsy.”

What counts, he said, is eliminating the public inconvenience of the county’s main office being closed every Friday.

“I think we as a government have to say, ‘Why do we exist?’ And we exist to serve the public,” he said. “The public aren’t our servants, we’re their servants, and I think we’ve gotten a little bit confused about that notion.”