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By CLARK MASON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Healdsburg City Hall is closed today, beginning a new schedule that shutters city offices every other Friday.
Healdsburg joins a growing list of cities in Sonoma County closed the last day of the work week.
Gary Plass in Healdsburg City Hall. (PD File)
Municipal offices are closed every Friday in Cotati, Petaluma, Sebastopol and Windsor. Santa Rosa is closed every other Friday.
Healdsburg City Manager Marjie Pettus said the closure is designed to ensure adequate staffing levels on the days City Hall is open.
The city has gone from 144 full-time employees in its heyday in 2006 to 111 workers now. As a result, on some Mondays and Fridays there has been limited or inadequate staff to serve the public.
Better to close City Hall entirely on some Fridays, she said, and extend hours on other days.
“This is more about making sure we can have staff available to the public,” she said. “The logic is when we’re open we can provide the full range of services.”
Monday through Thursday, city staff will work longer days than before, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and every other Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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What the local and state government fear the absolute most is that the general public will recognize how little we miss all their so called “services” once they are forced to cut back.
Thats why Gov Jerry Brown muttered that this is the year that could prove to be the point of no return for big state government as voters reject the tired old threat of “government” shut downs.