Residents taking Las Vegas City Hall short workweek in stride

On Fridays since January, when the city of Las Vegas switched to a four-day work schedule for many departments, a smattering of people such as Diana Flores and her family have shown up at City Hall, surprised to find the doors locked.

"We didn't know what time they were open," said Flores, who wanted to reserve a park pavilion but wasn't bothered by the closure. "We just stopped by. It'll be fine. We'll just come back, or go online."

The service she wanted is available over the phone and at locations other than City Hall, and many of the other services affected by the closure, such as paying parking tickets or applying for a business license, for example, can be taken care of on the city's website.

Because of that, the reaction to the city's schedule change appears to be mostly a shrug and an acceptance that tumultuous times forced the city to change the way it does business.

To avoid layoffs and save money, members of the Las Vegas City Employees Association, the largest of the four city unions, agreed to a 5 percent pay cut and moved to a schedule of four 9.5 hour days, with City Hall and some other buildings closed on Fridays.

The closure affected the city's administrative functions. Fire and ambulance, law enforcement and municipal courts remain open all week, and departments such as public works, graffiti removal and parks organized staggered schedules so that services are always available.

"It's actually working out pretty dang good," Councilman Steve Ross said.

Council member Lois Tarkanian was the only one to report hearing any complaints, but only minor annoyances, not big grievances.

"I sometimes have people tell me, 'Why aren't you open on Friday? You should be open on Friday,' " she said.

"I've gotten far less than I expected to. The ones that I had were right at the beginning."

Since the start of the new schedule, the city has maintained a hot line on Fridays to field calls to city. Call volume has remained steady, averaging 205 callers a week. Most of those are for services available online, said city spokeswoman Diana Paul.

The shorter work week for Las Vegas City Employees Association employees saves $5 million a year, part of the $115 million that's been trimmed from city operating expenses since the 2009 fiscal year. So far, closing City Hall and other buildings on Fridays is translating into an 8 percent drop in energy costs as well.

And employees, generally, like the new schedule, even though it comes with a pay cut, said Don King, president of the employees association.

"I think the majority, if they had the option, would want to stay on the four-day work schedule," he said. "We had some people grumble when they first went on it, but once they adjusted, they loved it."

Four-day schedules were previously adopted in North Las Vegas and Henderson, and like other businesses and government agencies that have switched, they've proved popular and even efficient, studies have shown.

Absenteeism decreased, morale improved and the schedule turned out to be a useful human resources recruiting tool.

Even so, former Mayor Oscar Goodman always opposed a four-day schedule, saying city offices should be open as much as possible. His successor and spouse, Mayor Carolyn Goodman, has a similar view.

"It would be wonderful if we could return to a five-day work week to make our services more readily available to our citizens, but we have to be fiscally responsible and there is a definite cost savings to the city going to a four-day work week," she said.

"Once the economy rebounds, I'd have to look to how the workers feel about scheduling and those pros and cons. Ultimately, I hope we can get to the point where the public can access all of the government services online so they don't even need to come down to City Hall."

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@review journal.com or 702-229-6435.