Fountain Valley’s City Hall has extended its business hours to be more staff-efficient and better serve residents.
As of June 29, City Hall is open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., instead of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every other Friday.
To save operational costs, offices now close every other Friday, the day of the week that happens to be “pretty slow” anyway, Matt Mogensen, management analyst said.
Closing every other Friday will save about $15,000 annually in energy costs and janitorial services.
By starting an hour earlier, city staffers hope to see residents who might otherwise have had to take time off work.
“It allows us to open an hour earlier, and most people work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” Mogensen said. “That gives them that hour in the morning window.”
People like contractors, who typically work early in the day, will especially benefit from the earlier hours, he added.
This change comes at a time when the city is faced with declining revenues, an increase in demand for its services, an increase in costs and a need to be more efficient with resources, as a press release noted.
The money saved by closing every other Friday won’t be negated by opening an hour earlier the rest of the days because many staffers already began work at 7 a.m. before doors opened and used equipment anyway, Mogensen said.
“All the equipment is on for the same amount of time [during working days] as it was before,” he said.
So closing every other Friday will save some funds. Working with a full staff all on the same schedule will also be more efficient internally, Mogensen said.
These changes will only affect business hours — not the city’s 24-hour emergency services, according to a press release.
Inspectors in the Building and Public Works Department will keep their usual Monday through Friday schedules.
Mogensen said other cities in Orange County have begun running on the same 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule and been successful.
“We think it’s going to be permanent,” he said.
