San Luis Obispo County Supervisors want to curb commutes

With global warming in mind, supervisors ask staffers to develop plans for telecommuting and flexible hours

By Bob Cuddy

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Flexible working hours and telecommuting would keep county workers out of their cars and help keep the air cleaner, county supervisors believe. They are instructing their staff to come up with a way to make both things happen.

Today, the Board of Supervisors is expected to direct its staff to create a countywide telecommute plan as well as a flexible work schedule for the county’s 2,500 employees.

The impetus for the plan is the passage of the state Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The act — AB 32 — requires a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050.

According to a staff report from administrative analyst Dan Buckshi, 67 percent of county government greenhouse gas emissions are related to employee commutes to and from work.

Buckshi wrote that alternative work schedules could be implemented more quickly than the more comprehensive plans — also under study in the county Planning and Building Department — to reduce greenhouse gases.

Telecommuting would allow employees to work from home or at other locations that would keep them from driving long distances.

Buckshi wrote that the Planning and Building Department has had such a policy since 2006, and it could serve as a model.

Details would need to be worked out, he said. The administration is recommending that employees use their own computers and telephones, and that each department come up with its own particulars.

The administration’s suggested “flexible” schedule includes working four 10- hour days rather than five eight-hour days weekly. Another option would be the so-called 9x80 schedule, under which an employee would work nine-hour days and not work every other Friday.

Should the Board of Supervisors implement any or all of these, they would have to be reviewed by the county’s employee unions.

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