Local briefs

The new circuit - dubbed the Burlingame 2101 - is the result of the reconfiguring an existing circuit - the San Mateo 2102, which began in San Mateo and ran north along the Burlingame shore and ran westward from Rollins Road into residential Burlingame, ending upper Hillsborough.

Now, customers served by the new circuit will not be impacted by power outages on the San Mateo 2102, PG&E reports.

The new circuit serves 900 customers, almost all of them in Burlingame, and reduces the number of customers relying on the 2102 circuit.

In creating the new circuit, PG&E installed a new transformer in the Burlingame substation and worked on Rollins Road and Marsten Road just outside its Burlingame substation near the Broadway exit.

PG&E replaced seven wooden utility poles, upgraded 1,500 feet of power lines with heavier gauge wires, and trenched about 10 feet outside of the Burlingame substation.

Work on the project began in July and cost about $560,000.

The circuit is the latest of several projects designed to reduce outages in Burlingame, which frustrated residents over a period of several years.

In 2002, residents frustrated with outages formed a grass-roots citizens group called Burlingamers Unwilling to Live with Blackouts, or BULB, intended to encourage PG&E to heed residents' concerns.

Over the past year PG&E trimmed and removed trees that were causing outages, installed devices to help protect against outages caused by birds and animals, added devices to quickly and pinpoint outages and added fuses to reduce the number of customers impacted by a given outage, the utility reports.

Budget problems close City Hall

San Bruno city employees have agreed to take three days off in December to meet the city's tight budget demands.

City Hall, city businesses offices, the library and recreation services will be closed from Dec. 20 to Dec. 22, and stay closed Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 to observe the holidays.

Police and Fire departments will operate that week, as well as San Bruno Cable Television customer service. The city said "essential work" by the Parks and Public Works departments would also continue Dec. 20 to 22.

The furlough is a 1.5 percent pay cut for affected employees, and city employees working that week will later take off three days without pay, according to a statement released Wednesday.