Chapter 6. Offices And Office Hours of California Government Code >> Division 2. >> Title 3. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 6.

Sheriffs, clerks, recorders, treasurers, and auditors, shall have their offices at the county seat in the courthouse, hall of records, jail, or other buildings. However, these officials may situate their offices outside the county seat, provided that the offices are conveniently located and easily accessible to the public, and notice of their location is prominently displayed in the county administration building and other appropriate county facilities.

Sheriffs shall also have offices in each city in which they perform court-related services and a facility of the superior court is located.

Sheriffs and clerks shall also have offices in any city containing a population of not less than 20,000 as ascertained by the preceding census taken under the authority of the Congress or the Legislature in which the city hall is not less than 30 miles distant from the county courthouse.

Sheriffs and clerks shall also have offices in any city containing a population of not less than 50,000 as ascertained by the last census taken under the authority of the Congress or the Legislature in which the city hall is not less than six miles distant from the county courthouse.

Sheriffs and clerks shall also have offices in any city containing a population of not less than 7,000, as ascertained by the preceding census taken under the authority of Congress or the Legislature in which the city hall is not less than 55 miles distant from the site of the county courthouse. Such offices shall be kept open for the transaction of business continuously every day, except Sundays and holidays, in the period during which a superior court is in session in the city.

Sheriffs and clerks shall also have offices in each city wherein the city hall is not less than eighteen miles from the site of the county courthouse and which has a population of not less than ten thousand, and within the ten-mile radius from the city hall of which there is a population of not less than fifty thousand, if there are residing in the county at least eighteen miles from the county courthouse not less than fifteen thousand persons, some of whom would be required to travel 50 miles to attend court at said city and at least ten miles farther in order to attend the superior court at the county courthouse, and in each city or town within the county containing a population of not less than two thousand two hundred wherein the city hall of said city or town is not less than sixty miles distant from the site of the county courthouse, or any other place where sessions of the superior court have been established, such populations being ascertained by the latest population determination as made under the authority of the Congress of the United States, or the Legislature of the State of California.

All offices required by this chapter shall be provided by the county through the board of supervisors.

Whenever the law specifies that an office or building shall be located at the county seat and an incorporated city has been designated as the county seat, the location of that office or building may be either within or in the immediate vicinity of the corporate limits of said city. However, the prescribed offices and buildings may be situated outside the county seat or its immediate vicinity, provided that those offices and buildings are conveniently located and easily accessible to the public, and notice of their location is prominently displayed in the county administration building and other appropriate county facilities.

In this chapter "transaction of business" means that during the hours named there shall be present in each office at least one person qualified and prepared to transact the business that properly comes into the office.

If any officer required by this chapter to have an office has no regularly appointed deputy paid by the county at the same time and in the same manner as the principal, he may close his office during the hour from 12 o'clock noon to 1 o'clock p.m.

If the officer has a branch office to which a single deputy is assigned, he may close the branch office during the hour from 12 o' clock noon to 1 o'clock p.m.

In all counties county officers shall keep their offices open for the transaction of business during such hours and on such days as are fixed by the board of supervisors by ordinance or resolution.

The judges of the superior court shall have chambers at the county seat and establish rules and hours for the dispatch of official business; provided that such rules must require that the courts shall be open for the transaction of judicial business on days on which an election is held throughout the State where county offices are open for the transaction of county business during such election days pursuant to ordinance.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no office of the sheriff or clerk shall be established elsewhere than at the county seat without the approval of the board of supervisors.