When my husband and I first heard we were going to be relocating to Tooele, I had to make sure I knew how to spell the name correctly. Then I got excited because my husband would be working at Dugway, which is on a four-day workweek.

We’d have Fridays to play.

Fast-forward a year: I love Tooele and the four 10s isn’t too bad. We do enjoy the extra weekend time. And we have time to do all those dumb little errands that pile up during the week — partly because when my husband gets home at 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, there are not many places of business still open.

So when the state announced it would be closing all its non-essential offices on Friday, I was a bit peeved.

When is my husband supposed to update his driver’s license? Get a copy of a birth certificate? Or what if he wants to complain about taxes or pay a ticket? Those were problems we used Fridays to solve.

And now the county is considering following the state’s example and taking Fridays off.

I give this idea a resounding no.

The idea seems sound at first blush — try to lower the number of days government employees work to lower expenses such as cooling and heating buildings. But those savings have to be weighed against a major disruption in people’s lives.

Look at some of the problems that have arisen around the state’s transition to four workdays. The Utah Transit Authority had a fit over re-doing all its bus schedules to fit state workers. Day care providers now have to work even longer hours with even more tired and grumpy kids. And when are the state employees going to take care of personal matters like updating their own driver’s licenses?

Being open later is not the answer. Who wants to go to a government office at 5:30 p.m.? Who believes you can get anything accomplished at that hour?

Tooele and Grantsville don’t seem inclined to jump on the four-day workweek bandwagon. Good for them. Just because something is new, doesn’t mean it will work.

The business of government is to serve the people. It is awful hard to serve when you are limiting your availability. Government was designed to work for the people, and it should be there — five days a week — for all of us.

Ann Herron is a journalist and former associate professor at Utah State University who lives in Tooele. She can be reached at annherron@comcast.net.