Aurora Municipal Court officials are considering changing the court schedule to a four-day week with employees working 10-hour days.

City councilmembers decided to put off a decision on the matter to the next study session after several councilmembers brought forward concerns about the change. 

The court’s current hours are Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 8 a.m. to noon due to a mandate of conducting 48-hour bond hearings, Judge Shawn Day told councilmembers Monday night.

In a city-wide survey, many court department employees requested a potential for hybrid work, Day said. However, due to the nature of court work, hybrid work is not a possibility for many court officials. 

To meet employees requesting that option in the middle, court officials discussed changing the court schedule to four days a week, which would mean the court would operate Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturdays at 1 p.m. for bond hearings.

He cited several benefits of the change, saying it would help save the city money, allow for better employee mental health and give more options to community members who need to appear in court but have work and school during regular business hours.

An upcoming budget reduction will require cost savings in the city’s court system, Day said. Making the change would mean employees who are in court past regular hours would accrue less overtime, thus saving money.

The city would also save money in facility upkeep, he said, getting rid of a day when the building lights, heating and cooling would normally operate.

Community members would benefit from the change as well, given more flexibility beyond regular business hours to appear in court before and after work and school, Day said.

People in trauma lines of work, such as those in the justice system, benefit from three-day weekends, he added, saying that giving court employees three days in a row off would likely improve retention and workplace desirability for judges and other staff. 

Councilmember Francoise Bergan did not support the change, saying she was “disappointed” because she had requested Day present alternative options and never heard them.

The benefits and costs of the proposal were not fleshed out enough for Bergan to support it, she said.

“Everybody in the city would love to have Fridays off,” Bergan said. “I’m really concerned about making sure we’re meeting the needs of our citizens and I don’t feel like I’m seeing actual evidence that we’re going to reduce the overtime.”

Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky said she supports the change, adding that the type of schedule suggested is “not uncommon for trauma lines of work,” which court officials fall into.

“I like the idea that people could be called to jury, dismissed, then still make it to work,” she said. “I like the idea that it makes it more appealing to get judges. I think having this one day a week will attribute to less people calling in, taking time off because they have a week day that they can deal with getting an oil change, having a doctor’s appointment.”

If it’s not working, they can reassess, Jurinsky said.

Councilmember Curtis Gardner agreed with Bergan, saying he wanted to look at other options, like rolling four-day work weeks, such that the court would stay open five days a week.

“At the end of the day, we are in a customer service business, we serve our residents and we serve our community,” Gardner said.

Councilmembers, running low on time before the next meeting started Monday night, decided to come back to the discussion at a future study session.

They also delayed a discussion about an ordinance that would fine caregivers whose children ride dirt bikes on city roads.

There has been an increase in accidents and injuries to minors due to reckless dirt bike riding on city streets in Aurora, according to the draft ordinance, brought forward by Councilmember Francoise Bergan.

Aurora currently has codes that regulate the use of what the ordinance calls “off-highway vehicles,” however, “parents continue to allow minors to possess and ride” them, the draft ordinance says.

If the ordinance passes at a future regular meeting, it would add a section to the city code penalizing parents and guardians of minors who violate the code with a fine of $250. The next study session is scheduled for Sept. 22.