Effective Sept. 8, the court clerk's offices in both Lakeport and Clearlake will be open from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., a reduction of two and a half hours a day.
Court Executive Officer Mary E. Smith made the announcement Aug. 20.
She said papers may still be filed with the clerk's offices by leaving them in a secure drop box at each of the offices between 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Smith's announcement noted that the hour reduction is temporary.
The decision was necessitated, in part, by the state Judicial Council's decision late in July to institute a once-a-month furlough day for courts statewide, as Lake County News has reported.
Beginning Sept. 16 and running through June 16, 2010, courts locally and statewide will be closed on the third Wednesday of each month.
Court staff will take those days as unpaid furloughs. The court previously reported that all court staff – including the judges – will take a 4.6-percent pay cut as a result. The local courts also are facing just over $400,000 in budget cuts for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
Smith reported that a judicial officer will be available for signing necessary documents on an emergency basis during the furloughs, just as a judicial officer now is available on weekends and holidays.
In addition to the furlough days, several vacancies and the extended absences of several clerk's office employees made the move necessary, Smith said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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