The new year will bring new operating hours for Centre County Court and its related offices.
Beginning Jan. 2, hours will change to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to Court Administration. Current hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The new hours will apply to the Court of Common Pleas, Magisterial District Courts, Court Administration, Probation and Parole and Domestic Relations, as well as the Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts Office.
Because of the change to court hours, the Centre County Sheriff’s Office hours will change to 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sheriff Bryan Sampsel wrote in a news release. Hours for applying for a license to carry a firearm will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The sheriff’s office will continue providing security at all county buildings during operational hours.
County government offices at the Willowbank Building and elsewhere are not affected by the change and will maintain their current hours.
Court employees will continue working the same number of hours, but will take a 30 minute lunch instead of an hour, Court Administrator Kendra Miknis said.
The change in court hours is aimed at employee recruitment and retention, according to President Judge Jonathan Grine.
Recruitment and retention looks at three factors: salary, benefits and intangibles, said Grine, who has administrative authority over court hours. While Grine said the benefits package is strong and the county has been working on salary adjustments, the court has still had difficulty filling some positions and some employees have left.
“What we’re seeing from the numbers right now is we’re not able to get people to fill spots and we’ve had people leave and move on,” Grine said. “One of the levers I wanted to take a look at was hours. So if we have a four o’clock stop as opposed to five, what I’m hoping is that’s an incentive to keep people as well as to maybe have a few more people fill these spots that we have open across the court system.”
He added that he hopes it will broaden the pool of candidates who apply to people living in neighboring counties, who will be able to get home by 5 p.m. when work hours end at 4.
“It kind of broadens our range to recruit employees to take these positions in the first place, because we’ve had some positions that have been posted that we just don’t have anybody respond,” Grine said. “Prior to the pandemic I don’t think that was really an issue, but it’s become an issue and with court operations and requirements for timelines mandated by the Supreme Court and the rules, it becomes really problematic for us.”
A survey was sent to current employees before making the change and none voiced concerns, Miknis said. The change was posted at court offices and on the county website in October and Court Administration has received no public feedback, she added.
Few county courthouses around the commonwealth operate later than 4:30 p.m. A check of court hours in five neighboring counties — Blair, Clearfield, Clinton, Mifflin and Union — showed each opens at 8 or 8:30 a.m. and closes at 4 or 4:30 p.m.
“It puts us in the same group as most courts,” Grine said. “If you take a look at the court system around central PA as well as throughout most of the state, most of them knock off between 4 and 4:30.”
