The director of the Department of Human Services has ordered a shut down of most agency functions for two-and-a-half days to deal with the recent round of state budget cuts. Central and local D-H-S offices will be closed May 10th, May 24th, and for half of May 17th. D-H-S spokesman Roger Munnssays the temporary, 20-hour-long close down will be disruptive for D-H-S clients and staff. Munns says the work won’t go away simply because they’ve closed offices.He says emergency abuse investigations will not be affected, and D-H-S institutions like the mental hospitals will remain fully-staffer on those three days. Munns says the alternative to the two-and-a-half day unpaid furlough was laying off 400 of the department’s five thousand workers.
