SAN JOSE, Calif. – The state court in Santa Clara County is once more cutting public hours for the clerk’s office, shutting its doors at noon on Friday while the clerk’s staff keeps working. The court’s cut in hours comes at a time when the California judiciary budget is expanding modestly and other clerks have returned their offices to full public hours.
The shortened hours announced last week amplify the effect of an earlier cut in 2014, when former head clerk David Yamasaki lopped an hour off the public hours, cutting the closing time from 4 to 3 p.m. At the time, a sign was posted on the courthouse next to the main doors announcing “new temporary hours.”
That sign and those hours remain in place almost three years later. But now the doors close all Friday afternoon in addition to closing early the rest of the week. As with the earlier cut, the staff in the clerk’s office continues to work a full day.
“It’s a disservice to the public,” said Gloria Levyes, 73, after she was turned away on Friday. “I think they need to put more staff on duty to help the public.”
Levyes was attempting to help Adelino Santos, 77, track down a record of his divorce on Friday, but she arrived at 1 p.m.
No sign had yet been posted announcing the new hours, with that task falling to a deputy sheriff who told Leyves and Santos they would have to come back on Monday. The deputy estimated he’d performed the same rigamarole 30 times that afternoon.
Elizabeth Manassau, an attorney who works often at the court, said that even when word spreads about the new hours, the reduction will continue to harm members of the public.
“Friday is the easiest day to get out of work early,” she said. “This is going to hurt lawyers, pro pers and even the staff.”
Santa Clara Superior Court, which has been beset by controversy and allegations it is poorly run in recent years, has recently witnessed an administrative makeover.
After a brutal and public dispute over wages with its own staff – including clerks, janitors and other employees needed to run the court – Yamasaki left last year to take the job of head clerk in Orange County. He was replaced in Santa Clara by Rebecca Fleming, who comes from Stanislaus County. Santa Clara’s presiding judge in 2017, Patricia Lucas, is new as well.
But while the singers have changed, the song is the same.
Speaking through spokesman Benjamin Rada, the court’s leadership said the budget imposed by the state of California and Gov. Jerry Brown has caused the need to restrict hours.
“The reduction of the civil court’s Friday business hours is intended to provide our clerks with uninterrupted time to reduce backlogs,” Rada said.
In other words, the reduced hours won’t save money because the clerks will still be working, but – untroubled by the necessity to handle public requests – the court hopes to cut down its backlog. This type of rationale has prompted the ire of California lawmakers in the past.
“People expect you to keep your doors open,” said Bob Wieckowski, a California state senator representing parts of San Jose, Milpitas and Santa Clara.