Residents have concerns about inconvenience, children being taken out of school

Tooele County government is going to four 10s.

On Tuesday, county commissioners approved a four-day, 10-hour per day government workweek to go into effect on Oct. 12.

The move follows the example set by state government back in August, and has been endorsed by the majority of county employees, according to Tooele County Commissioner Jerry Hurst.

“The switch will go into effect Oct. 12, which is a Sunday and the beginning of a new pay period,” Hurst said. “By closing down our offices, we can save money on the energy used for lights, computers, heating, air conditioning, and fuel that we won’t be using on Fridays. A lot of the state officers that we deal with are also closed on Fridays, so it will be nice to be on the same schedule as them.”

General hours for county offices will now be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m, Monday through Thursday, with a few exceptions.

“The Sheriff’s Office and the senior citizens centers won’t be able to switchover, because that schedule obviously won’t work for them, but the majority of the departments will be able to,” Hurst said. “We will wait and see if it works, but if it doesn’t and five days appears to be the best solution, we may go back to the old hours.”

Hurst said some county departments will not adhere to the new workweek. The sheriff’s department and senior citizens centers, as well as the courts and some maintenance crews will still work Fridays.

Hurst said the new workweek would save taxpayers on fuel costs, and save money for county employees as well.

“We have some county employees who have to drive out to Wendover or Ibapah for work, and we have people who commute to work here from as far away as Heber City,” he said.

Tooele County Assessor Wendy Shubert said employees in her department are pleased with the new schedule, and she doesn’t think it will inconvenience county residents.

“We’re pretty excited about having 10-hour days, and we’ll be open early enough and late enough to help customers before and after their work,” she said. “We can now work more in conjunction with the state. We work closely with them on motor vehicle transactions, name changes on marriage licenses, and other things like that.”

Myron Bateman, Tooele County Health Department Director, said the fact that the health department will now be open until 6 p.m. will be a great benefit to the public.

“We’ll be open late enough now for people to use our services after work,” he said. “Friday is usually a slow day for us anyway. We will also still have big events on the weekends with the new schedule change.”

Grantsville resident Carol Jefferies, owner of Soelberg’s Market, was taking care of personal business at the county recorder’s office Wednesday. She said the county’s longer hours make up for the inconvenience of being closed Fridays.

“I have no problem with the change because I work close by in Grantsville, so I can just plan to go to the county building any time before or after work,” she said. “If you just plan ahead for any kind service you need with the county, there’s no issue there.”

James Elton, a Tooele resident and truck driver who also works a four-day week, agreed.

“The fact that it’s closed on Friday does make things a little harder, but it’s good that they have that open time before and after work for us to get things done,” he said.

Some residents were concerned about the switchover though.

Mark Nelsen, owner of B & D Title Company of Tooele, said the county’s new four-day workweek may inconvenience home buyers who come into his office.

“A lot of people like to close on their homes Friday so they can move in that weekend, but now transactions won’t be able to be recorded that day if the courthouse is closed,” he said. “People will get used to it though.”

Joyce James, a teacher who lives and works in Tooele, worries more county employees will be taking their kids out of school on Fridays to make three-day weekend trips.

“I brought it up at a school faculty meeting, and we thought that maybe we should have more fun activities on Friday because of the four-day workweek,” she said. “Therefore, more kids can tell their parents that they actually want to come to school on Friday.”

Jefferies also mentioned that the four-ten schedule may be hard on commuters, many of whom have longer, four-day workweeks themselves.

“I know I might feel differently about the schedule change if I had a long commute to and from work every day,” she said.

Utah became the first state in the country to close government offices on Fridays when Gov. Jon Huntsman put the new schedule for state employees into effect back in August.

Doug Radunich: dougrad@tooeletranscript.com