We Don't Close

I mentioned in my background post that I work for a local government, it is a county government to be specific. Where I live the county handles all 911 (emergency) calls. They dispatch for both the county and all of the cities within. They also handle all EMS, though the major city has first responders on their fire department. The county has its own fire department also to handle calls that occur outside any city limits.

Because the county has such a large force of emergency personnel, it was decided long before my time that the county would never close outside of weekends and holidays. 20 Feet of snow won't close our offices. The reason being that it would cost the county half a million dollars to close down for one day. This is because any time we close outside of weekends/ holidays we have to pay emergency personnel at minimum time and half (though more likely double time) and pay over time. If an employee feels that conditions are unsafe for them to travel to work, they can work with their supervisor to take a vacation day. But each employee has to work this out with their supervisor. There are no paid snow days for us.

Now the reason for this explanation is that today I received a call from a lady who works at the local office of the Department of Revenue (State office). The DOR has decided that each satellite office will only close when the local county offices close so she was calling to inquire about our policy for closing and how we notify employees that we are closed. I had to explain to her that we don't have any such policy because we don't close. Sure the Chairman of the board could decide to close (perhaps if we ever did get 20 feet of snow) and that the media would be informed but it has never happened as they are aware of the extreme cost to do so.

She wasn't happy with my answer and said she would be calling the major city in the county to inquire about their policy. I'm sure this is in hopes that they close and she can convince those above her to allow them to go along with what the city does rather than the county. Only thing is, I don't think the city ever closes either as they are in the same boat as us cost wise for the most part.

After I finished talking to her, I found out that she had called two days ago and spoke to my supervisor (because she happened to be the one who answered) and was told the same thing then. I guess she thought she would get a different answer today.

If she really wants to find a way to make sure she can close the office for snow days, then she should look at going off what the District Court does. They are a state office and the head judge is allowed to close down if he sees fit, which means they close a lot more often than we do.

I don't know what she'll get to do. I'll probably never find out as it really isn't our concern if they are open or closed. We'll just keep doing our thing and they can do whatever.