City Hall Revives Its 5-Day Schedule

Starting July 15, Thousand Oaks City Hall will again be open from Monday to Friday.

The City Council voted 4 to 0 Tuesday to again open City Hall five days a week by allowing employees to work four-day, 40-hour weeks at staggered shifts. Councilwoman Elois Zeanah was absent. The Service Employees International Union, which represents Thousand Oaks’ employees, has already accepted the new plan.

Under the proposal, City Hall would be open every weekday for the first time since 1992, and the new City Hall hours would be 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thousand Oaks department heads will discuss the plan with their employees in coming weeks to determine how best to spread four, 10-hour workdays over the five days to provide the best level of service while keeping workers happy.

Thousand Oaks will try out the five-day weeks for six months. If the new schedules turn out to be too problematic, they may be scrapped.

The change is not expected to cost the city much money 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, city officials said.

The city initially switched to a four-day workweek in an attempt to keep drivers off the road and reduce air pollution. But regulations instituted last year reduced the need for such measures.