La Plata County Clerk & Recorder's office launches 4-day work week pilot program

La Plata County has begun a pilot program to gauge the feasibility of a transition to a four-day work week for most county offices. The pilot program began in the Clerk & Recorder’s office on Monday, Sept. 12. The Clerk & Recorder’s office is responsible for Vehicle Registration and Titling, Recording of Real Property Records, Marriage Licenses and Elections.

Daily hours are extended; the office was previously open from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. Beginning Sept. 12, the new hours are from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday (opening at 8 a.m. on Wednesdays to allow for an internal staff meeting), and the Clerk & Recorder’s office will be closed on Fridays effective Sept. 16 and continuing through the end of 2022 during the pilot program. The Bayfield Motor Vehicle office will remain open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (the office formerly closed at 4 p.m.).

The four-day work week has already been adopted by several Colorado counties including Jefferson, Boulder, Park, Fremont and Chaffee, as well as the school districts of Bayfield, Ignacio and Montezuma-Cortez. Documented benefits of the four-day work week include a lessening of car trips for the more than 400 employees of La Plata County with associated traffic congestion and fuel consumption/emissions; longer customer service hours on the days when county offices are open; facility utility savings by closing large buildings an additional day each week; and improved employee morale, especially among those county employees with children in the aforementioned school districts.

County staff will monitor the pilot program toward making a decision whether to adopt the four-day work week permanently in 2023. La Plata County residents may comment on the pilot program by contacting Ted Holteen at ted.holteen@co.laplata.co.us or (970) 382-6265.