Plan to Resume 5-Day Workweek Earns Praise

As a local contractor who has to pull 30 to 50 permits a year down at City Hall, Armando Benavides of Conejo Valley Construction said the city’s four-day workweek is more than an inconvenience--it costs him cash.

“We need permits for every type of work we do,” said the owner of the small Newbury Park business. “We just have to wait, so we lose a lot of time. And time is money.”

Though popular with city employees, Thousand Oaks’ four-day workweek has been anathema to real estate agents, contractors and many residents, who have found themselves yanking at the locked doors of City Hall on Fridays.

Which explains why the city’s new proposal--to open City Hall five days a week again by allowing employees to work staggered shifts--is garnering praise.

“This proposal goes back to what the city is supposed to be there for, which is to serve the community,” Benavides said.

The Service Employees International Union, which represents Thousand Oaks’ employees, has accepted the new plan that allows workers to continue the four-day, 40-hour weeks on staggered shifts. And the City Council, which for months has listened to the public criticize City Hall’s hours, is expected to approve the arrangement today.

Under the proposal, City Hall would be open five days a week again for the first time since 1992, and the new City Hall hours, which would begin July 15, would be 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Mayor Andy Fox said the plan should please both the public and the 200 city employees who would be affected, because it keeps City Hall open five days a week while allowing city workers to keep their three-day weekends.

“To one degree or another, the entire business community and every resident was affected by the inability to receive city services on Fridays,” Fox said. “I’m glad we were able to put together an agreement that meets the needs of both sides.”

But he warned that the transition may be a bit rough--particularly on city department heads, who are essentially being asked to provide the same level of services they are offering now for an extra day with the same number of people.

“We are not trying to pull a fast one on the community by opening five days a week on skeleton crews,” Fox said. “We plan to provide a complete level of service. But we want the community to understand that on some days, fewer people are going to be working, and lines are going to be longer.”

Some city employees said they are skeptical about whether the plan will actually work. They fear their treasured three-day weekends will eventually disappear.

“I don’t know anybody who wants to go back to five days a week,” said one employee, who asked not to be identified. “Morale was really high going to 4-40. I think it will probably suffer a bit now, that’s for sure.”

City officials plan to try out the five-day weeks for six months. If the proposal is too problematic, it may be scrapped. It is not expected to cost much more than Thousand Oaks is paying now, because workers will be putting in the same number of hours, and parts of the Civic Arts Plaza are already open on Fridays for auditions and theatrical performances, said Assistant City Manager MaryJane Lazz.

Like many local repair businesses, Lloyd’s Plumbing is required to obtain permits from Thousand Oaks to do most of its work. In fact, Lloyd’s has already obtained 62 permits this year.

If someone’s gas line breaks, if the water heater’s not working or if their sewer lines are backed up and causing problems inside the house, Lloyd’s needs a permit to fix it. And if that person’s misfortune happens late Thursday or Friday, repairs have to wait all weekend, said Ida Farber, Lloyd’s office manager.

“Sometimes, we have to put people off for days, and let me tell you, they’re not happy about it,” she said.

What’s more, Farber argued, there are bound to be some businesses that decide to skirt the city altogether and do such work without permits--or the required inspections.

“There’s surely some plumbers out there who say, ‘The city hasn’t really given me a choice,’ ” Farber said. “This [the return to a five-day week] would help us, but it would also help customers and everybody out there.”

Graham Watts, who oversees Thousand Oaks’ recycling programs, agrees. Businesses would benefit from the extra day that City Hall is open, and city employees would benefit by having more flexible work schedules.

If their workload is not too intense, that is.

“It’s refreshing to see that the city is taking an inventive approach to providing services and providing employees with options,” Watts said. “But I’m not sure this will affect me at all. Officially, I’m not supposed to work on Fridays. Unofficially, I’ve been coming in [on Fridays] for a while.”