Enhancing service delivery and strengthening taxpayers’ investment into the city’s workforce led the Denton City Council on Tuesday to give staff direction to move forward with a one-year pilot program to close the city’s administrative offices at noon on Fridays.
The program begins Jan. 2 and falls in line with what other area cities are already doing in the Dallas-Fort Worth region such as Lewisville and Carrollton.
“City employees are the backbone of our organization and are deeply committed to serving this community,” City Manager Sara Hensley said in a news release on Wednesday. “By creating time for focus and collaboration, we’re investing in our people so they can deliver even stronger, more responsive service to Denton residents.”
The administrative offices that will close at noon on Fridays include: City Hall, City Hall East, Development Services Center, Service Center, Facilities Management, Environmental Services and Central Fire Station.
Public-facing facilities excluded from early closure are as follows: recreation centers, animal services, libraries, water lab, landfill, central fire station museum, public safety and utilities.
Although some public-facing hours end at noon on Friday, city staff will continue to work an 80-hour biweekly schedule.
Alternative work schedules will also become available between January and March with options such as four 10-hour shifts, four nine-hour workdays and one four-hour work day, and one to two days of remote work will also be available depending on the work schedule.
City leaders will evaluate the pilot program data in April 2027 to assess its impact on operational effectiveness and community service outcomes, according to the news release.
On Tuesday, Mayor Gerard Hudspeth called it a really good idea, especially since they weren’t giving merit raises, but a couple of council members were concerned about scaling back on the public-facing hours.
Council member Joe Holland was worried that people would have business to conduct, reach for the door at 2 p.m. Friday and find it locked.
“Goodness knows, I want to support our employees,” said Holland, who wasn’t supportive of the idea. “But more than that, I want to support our citizens. I think this compromises that level of service.”
Council member Brandon Chase McGee said that he agreed with Holland, though he was willing to try it.
Hensley didn’t hide her frustration with the council members and pointed out that she had asked them at a previous meeting if they had any concerns about the pilot program and what they were wanting to do.
“No one said a word to me, nor did they bring it up at any other time,” Hensley said. “So now our staff have gone through hours and hours and hours of work as a team across this organization. I mean, levels of staff, all different levels, supervisors, directors, you name it, to go through the effort to try to come up with schedules that would work for all departments.
“... It’s disappointing because I will tell you the hours of staff time is enormous.”
McGee said that while he was aware of changing employee hours, he wasn’t aware that staff planned to reduce the public-facing hours.
“I’m generally supportive,” McGee said. “Like I said, I’m just skeptical.”
Council member Vicki Byrd wasn’t appreciative of Hensley’s sentiment but was supportive of the idea.
“You know, we’re the council and if we choose to change our minds about something, then that’s our prerogative to do that,” Byrd reminded the city manager. “I respect your words and your thoughts, but I certainly do also appreciate you allowing us to change our minds if we feel like we need to.”
CHRISTIAN McPHATE can be reached at 940-220-4299 and cmcphate@dentonrc.com.
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