As part of wage concession agreements with the County’s unions which achieved savings of over $9.6 million this year, the County Board of Supervisors approved plans to close many County Departments from December 24, 2010 through January 2, 2011.

Public safety, public assistance, and public health programs will remain available to the public during this time as the Sheriff, Fire, Public Health, Social Services, Mental Health, Emergency Services, and Public Works departments will remain open to provide essential services to County residents. Limited staffing will be maintained in the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor’s Office, the County Treasurer, and many general administrative offices in order to provide essential services.

A comprehensive list of full and partial department closures, as well as those departments that will remain open, follows. The list is also available on the County’s website (PDF).

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December 2010 Paid Time Off Program Operational Plan

December 24 and 31, 2010 are County holidays in observance of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. During the four workdays of December 27, 2010 through December 30, 2010 County offices will operate under various schedules as County Departments implement a Paid Time Off (PTO) program that was part of wage concession agreements reached in May 2010. This is generally a time of the year when many County offices operate with minimal/limited staffing as Departments honor vacation requests by staff where feasible. All offices will resume normal hours beginning on January 3, 2011.

The schedules during the PTO program implementation will include offices that remain open during the entire period to comply with legal mandates and operational needs, partial closures and full closures. Peace officers and fire fighters will not be affected. Operational emergency response personnel will be available as required.

Where offices are partially or fully closed, departments will make necessary arrangements to cover emergency or critical services. Public Health and Mental Health will have medical staff available if needed.

The following operational plan has been developed by departments and meets with the spirit and intent of the agreements covering the PTO program. The plan will be modified if necessary to meet potential business needs.

Open Entire PTO Period

Some employees in the following departments will take time off from December 27, 2010 through December 30, 2010, but the following departments will run operations for the most part as they typically would during this period.

– County Counsel

– District Attorney

– Probation

– Public Defender

– Public Works

– Sheriff

– Social Services

Partial Closures

The following departments will be closed some of the days from December 27, 2008 through December 30, 2010, or portions of these departments will be closed for some or all of that time; hours of operation will be posted in advance:

Agricultural Commissioner. The Santa Maria Office will be staffed 8 hours daily to operate both the Pest Exclusion Program and the Pesticide Use Enforcement Program to accommodate the needs of growers and shippers by inspecting outgoing/incoming shipments of agricultural commodities and continuing in the issuance of permits for pesticide use. The Santa Barbara Office will be staffed 2-4 hours daily to operate the Pest Exclusion Program to inspect incoming/outgoing shipments and support the Pesticide Use Enforcement Program on an as needed basis.

Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services Department (ADMHS) On-call staff will be available if needed, and a department plan is in place to meet ADMHS clients’ needs. Phone lines will staffed in administrative offices; CARES staff will answer ACCESS lines for Countywide clients, and staff will be available for all urgent and emergent Children’s needs through the SAFETY Program. In addition, IT, Medical Records, and Patients Rights staff will be available to support departmental operations that remain open.

The Psychiatric Health Facility, Juvenile Justice Program, CARES program, and Adult Clinics will be open normal hours.

The following services will be closed to the public from December 27, 2010 through December 30, 2010:

– Alcohol and Drug Program, 300 N. San Antonio Rd., Santa Barbara

– Administration, 300 N. San Antonio Rd., Santa Barbara

– Children’s Clinics, 429 N. San Antonio Rd., Santa Barbara; 117 N B Street, Lompoc; 500 W. Foster Rd., Santa Maria

– County Clerk, Recorder, Assessor, Registrar of Voters The Recorder Division offices will be open every day in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria. All other divisions will be closed to the public.

– Fire All Fire Stations will operate normally, but Fire Department Administrative offices in Santa Barbara and Buellton will be closed to the public.

– Office of Emergency Services The Office of Emergency Services will be closed to the public during this time but will maintain full operational readiness. The Emergency Operations Center will be set up prior to the closure.

– Parks Department The Parks Department will be closed to the public except that essential services at Cachuma Lake, Jalama Lake, Goleta Beach, Arroyo Burro Beach, and Jalama Beach will be maintained, as will opening/closing and trash removal and restroom/maintenance at day-use parks Countywide.

– Public Health Department The Animal Services Division, Disease Control and Prevention Division, Maternal Child Adolescent Health Division, Vital Records, and Public Health Labs will be open every day with reduced staffing levels.

The following Public Health Department services will be closed to the public on December 29 and 30. The clinics will be open December 27 and 28 with limited staffing in order to maximize time off for staff.

Santa Barbara Clinic, 345 Camino Del Remedia, Bldg 3 and 4, Santa Barbara

Carpinteria Clinic. 931 Walnut Avenue, Carpinteria

Franklin Clinic, 1136 E. Montecito Street, Santa Barbara

Santa Maria Clinic, 2115 S. Centerpointe Parkway, Santa Maria

Santa Maria Women’s Center, 116 S. Palisade Drive, Santa Maria

Lompoc Clinic, 301 N. R Street, Lompoc

California Children Services, 1111 Chapala,Santa Barbara

Closures

All offices of the following departments will be closed to the public from December 24, 2010 through January 2, 2011, which includes the Christmas Day and New Year’s Day holiday weekends. (Some departments will have small numbers of staff work during this period to provide internal services – not public services.) Emergency and on-call staffing will be available if needed.

– Auditor Controller

– Child Support Services

– Clerk of the Board

– County Executive Office/Human Resources

– First Five

– General Services

– Housing and Community Development

– Planning and Development

– Redevelopment Agency

– Retirement

– Treasurer-Tax Collector

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