Willow Glen Resident

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San Jose City Hall shut down for holidays is morale boost

By Eli Segall

With the holiday season over, San Jose residents are back into the daily routine of clogged freeways, school carpools and packed workdays.

City employees have also returned to the grind but may be better rested than most: San Jose City Hall shut down between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2, as workers took advantage of a voluntary holiday furlough to enjoy a lengthy winter break.

Most Bay Area governments stayed open between Christmas and New Year's Day, including the city and county of Santa Clara and city of Campbell. San Jose officials, however, see the furlough as a boost to employee morale at a time when almost everyone in the country has vacation plans, said department of employee relations director Alex Gurza.

"Employees are basically guaranteed to spend time with their families," Gurza said. "Things are also slow around here. It's a very dead time."

The furlough is not a paid vacation, nor is every employee eligible for it; those who work through the break still have access to their offices. To leave work, employees must use vacation time, personal leave or compensatory time off. City administrative offices shut down during the 1 1/2-week break, but essential health and safety services such as fire, police and building inspections continued.

However, the conspicuous absence of government workers turned city hall into a ghost town and left some residents frustrated.

San Jose property owner Nubia Ramirez sends blight violations to code enforcement officers as part of the city's "Blight Busters" volunteer program. She hoped these reports would be addressed before the furlough, but on Dec. 19 city officials told her this would not happen until after the break.

"I wasn't annoyed about them taking a vacation, because we all need time off," Ramirez said, "but it's a matter of performing your job and ensuring good customer service."

The furlough started in 1992 when, in response to an economic slowdown, the city implemented it as a cost-cutting measure, said San Jose city manager spokeswoman Mona Favorite-Hill. There are no exact figures on how many of San Jose's 7,000 city employees take the time off or how much money the city saves, Gurza said.

Eligibility for time off is contingent upon employees' union contracts. Eleven unions cover the city's workers, but only four offer a "holiday closure" clause. Those covered by the clause include clerical workers, electricians and staff members of the various city departments and agencies.

San Jose is not alone in offering a holiday furlough. The city of Rocklin, 20 miles north of Sacramento, has for the past decade offered a furlough to its 500 full- and part-time employees. It too implemented the break as a cost-cutting measure.

"I'm amazed more cities don't do this," said Rocklin City Manager Carlos Urrutia. "It's a relatively unproductive time, and employees can count on that time to spend with their families. We just felt it was the right thing to do."