Upcoming court closures and furlough days
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. On days where the rest of the New Hampshire government remains open for business, the entire Judicial Branch will close and its employees will take unpaid furlough days in order to accomplish expenditure reduction. The Supreme Court explains these closures in Administrative Orders 2010-03 and 2010-05. The upcoming furlough days, in addition to the three days this spring, are:
- Friday, July 2, 2010
- Friday, August 6, 2010
- Friday, September 3, 2010
- Friday, October 8, 2010
- Friday, November 12, 2010
- Thursday, December 23, 2010
In addition to the furlough days, the courts have reduced their public office hours in order to reduce delays in processing orders and pleadings. In other words, so that it would not continue to take eight weeks or more for some courts to process and mail court orders, the clerk's office will close the front desk or window and turn off the telephone lines to concentrate on processing the orders. The public will not be able to reach the court during these times, though the court will remain open for scheduled hearing and mediations. The family division closures are as follows:
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Note: All partial closure times are from 12 - 4 PM unless otherwise stated. |
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| Brentwood Family: | Wednesdays |
| Claremont District/Family: | Mondays |
| Concord District/Family: | Fridays |
| Dover District/Family: | Fridays |
| Exeter District: | Wednesdays |
| Franklin District/Family: | Fridays |
| Hooksett District/Family: | Fridays Furlough Weeks - Thursdays Plus 6/10 and 7/8 (and not Fridays these weeks) |
| Laconia District/Family: | Fridays (1 - 4 PM) |
| Lebanon District/Family: | Fridays |
| Littleton District/Family: | Fridays |
| Manchester District/Family: | Fridays |
| Nashua District | Fridays (1 - 4 PM) Furlough Weeks - Thursdays (1 - 4 PM) |
| Ossipee District/Family: | Alternating Fridays (beginning on 5/7/10) |
| Plymouth District/Family: | Fridays |
| Salem District/Family: | Thursdays (1 - 4 PM) except furlough weeks |
This sounds like a very reasonable strategy. It is unfortunate that such measures need to be taken in order to meet a reasonable budget, but at least those in charge are taking active steps to reduce the overall burden.
I hope the public does its best to coordinate with these new hours and pays attention to when they should and shouldn't try to contact the appropriate offices.