Memorandum
Date: August 4, 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):
On June 23, 2020, your Board reconsidered your established office hours, specifically, the Friday closures you have authorized as a pilot program for departments in and around the courthouse. At that time, your Board extended said authority to August 7, 2020 and determined that Chair Simon and District 5 Supervisor Brown would discuss further with Department Heads, returning to the Board this date with a recommendation.
On July 16, 2020, that discussion with the Department Heads was held by Chair Simon and District 3 Supervisor Crandell, who filled in for Supervisor Brown because he was unavailable. Based on that discussion, it is now recommended that the Friday closure pilot continue through December 31, 2020:
The conditions that led to the pilot remain unresolved, with staff vacancy rates still trending around 20% County-wide. As your Board is aware, staff is now also dealing with more complicated scheduling demands while serving the public in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the horizon, we expect staff to be further challenged with PSPS coverage demands and, given our 5 year history with disastrous wildfires, the possibility of additional wildfire disasters also looms in the coming months. PSPS and disaster response further taps already limited staff resources, leaving even fewer staff in place to focus on regular workloads. According to your Department Heads, staff in many departments have greatly benefited from the closure time on Fridays, enabling focus on backlogs and uninterrupted time for essential training.
Background
California Government Code section 24260 empowers your Board to set office hours for the transaction of County business.
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, 2020, Resolution No. 2020-25 authorized Friday closures through May 10, 2020. Most recently, on June 23, 2020 Resolution No. 2020-79 continued Friday closures through August 7, 2020.
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Recommended Action: Adopt Resolution Establishing Temporary Alternative Office Hours for County offices located in and surrounding the Lake County Courthouse.