Audio By Carbonatix
Collin DeWitt, Gilbert Town Manager, stands behind his city’s decision to create a shorter work week and says the “four-10” schedule will save money and help customers.
DeWitt returned our phone message from yesterday, (which we left after an assistant town manager failed to get back to us), to answer questions we’d had for an earlier blog post.
It turns out that although many city offices will be closed Friday as of next week, only one department is losing weekend hours — the police records department. Although the town’s Web site stated that the Public Works department also served customers during Saturdays, town officials say now that the Web site had incorrect info.
Going to the four-day work week with extended hours on those days (7 a.m. to 6 p.m.) should give city visitors, whether applying for permits or seeking other municipal services, more convenient options, DeWitt says.
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Gilbert’s police records department had no front-counter customers on weekends, meaning the impact on the public won’t be a “huge change,” DeWitt says he learned after speaking to a records supervisor. (Another official says that, in fact, the records counter does have customers coming in on the weekend.)
Some file clerks at the records department will be working weekends, DeWitt adds.
Fire, police and other vital town services will still operate seven days a week, naturally.
Besides the anticipated cost savings, (DeWitt says the town never estimated how much that might be) and hoped-for customer convenience, the town manager says that going to a four-10 work week would benefit employees.
The town hasn’t been able to give raises to employees lately, but many preferred the plan for the new schedule, he says.
