Memorandum
Date: June 23, 2020
To: The Honorable Moke Simon, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Carol J. Huchingson, County Administrative Officer
Subject: Consideration of a Resolution Amending Resolution No. 2018-118 Establishing Temporary Alternative Office Hours for County offices Located in and Surrounding the Lake County Courthouse or Alternative Direction to Staff
Executive Summary: (include fiscal and staffing impact narrative):
When the Friday closure pilot was initiated, staff vacancy rates had recently trended around 20%, county-wide, and this trend has held relatively steady (+/- a few percentage points) in the time since.
Earlier this year, your Board received feedback at a workshop on Economic Development that Friday closures have been inconvenient for some members of the public. On March 10, further public comment was received from representatives of the Real Estate industry, noting inconvenience and delays in deal closures. In the interim, the COVID-19 crisis upset many norms, and County offices were entirely closed to the public as a consequence of federal and state guidance and mandates.
Just prior to the COVID-19 Shelter in Place Order, your Board directed staff to initiate discussion with Department Heads, to determine the feasibility of generally resuming normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm). 19 Department Heads responded to a survey, with most indicating willingness to reopen if directed to do so by your Board. However, Department Heads opined that the protected work time since August 2018 has had significant benefits, and profound financial and staffing-related challenges remain.
On June 16, 2020, while reviewing Recommended Budget for Fiscal Year 2020/2021, due to the anticipated negative financial impacts resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, your Board directed that for Final Recommended Budget (to be heard on September 23, 2020), Departments should plan to reduce expenditures, make sure all contracts for services include non-appropriations clauses in the event funding levels are insufficient and take steps to eliminate unfilled vacant positions.
At the direction of your Board, staff has returned with two Resolution options for your consideration:
The first enables resumption of normal business hours as of the week of July 6, 2020.
The second provides for the extension of Friday closures through October 9, 2020, so reconsideration can be given during your discussion of Final Recommended Budget.
In light of your Board’s new direction, staff recommends you approve the second option and forego any change to business hours until more is known about the financial impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and how it may ultimately impact staffing levels. As your Board well knows, all of the impacts to staffing and the heavy workloads resulting from the long series of disasters sustained by Lake County are not fully resolved at this time and our capacity to provide public services remains seriously impacted.
Background
California Government Code section 24260 empowers your Board to set office hours for the transaction of County business. You are very probably also aware it is common practice in California Counties to periodically revisit public hours, and establish any changes by Resolution.
On August 28, 2018, your Board adopted Resolution No. 2018-118, establishing temporary alternate office hours for County offices located within and surrounding the Lake County Courthouse Building. At that time, Friday closures were granted due to high employee vacancy rates, generally heavy workloads and disaster impacts. Your initial authorization facilitated a six-month pilot, bringing public hours of County offices into alignment with norms of the Cities of Clearlake and Lakeport.
The ongoing need of reduced public hours was affirmed by your Board December 4, 2018, March 12, 2019, by adopting Resolution No. 2019-35, and again September 10, 2019, adopting Resolution No. 2019-136, extending Friday closures through Tuesday, March 10, 2020. On March 10, Resolution No. 2020-25 authorized Friday closures through May 10.
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Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
Consistency with Vision 2028 and/or Fiscal Crisis Management Plan (check all that apply): ☐ Not applicable
☐ Well-being of Residents ☐ Public Safety ☐ Infrastructure ☐ Technology Upgrades
☒ Economic Development ☒ Disaster Recovery ☒ County Workforce ☐ Revenue Generation
☐ Community Collaboration ☒ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake ☐ Cost Savings
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Recommended Action: Adopt Resolution Establishing Temporary Alternative Office Hours for County offices located in and surrounding the Lake County Courthouse.