WINCHESTER — The Frederick County Human Resources Committee on Friday unanimously recommended that the Board of Supervisors revise the county’s holiday policy so that any new federal and state holidays would automatically be observed by the county — a move that would make Juneteenth a paid county holiday.
For years, the county has had an enumerated list of holidays, which were based upon all federal and state holidays as well as other holidays that may be prescribed by the board — such as the local Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. In the past, each time a new federal or state holiday was added — or the name of an existing federal or state holiday was changed — both the county’s HR Committee and the Board of Supervisors had to vote to approve adding the new holiday to the county’s enumerated list of holidays.
During Friday’s meeting, HR Committee members agreed they wanted to get rid of the enumerated list of holidays observed by the county. The change would eliminate the need for the HR Committee and the Board of Supervisors to make revisions whenever any changes to federal or state holidays occur.
The HR Committee’s recommendation was in response to Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery. In October, the Virginia General Assembly designated Juneteenth an official state holiday. Because of this, the HR Committee recommended last year that Juneteenth be recognized and that it be referred to as Emancipation Day in Frederick County, with county employees getting the day off with holiday pay.
At the Dec. 9 Board of Supervisors meeting, Red Bud District Supervisor Blaine Dunn brought forth the motion on the committee’s behalf, but said he would not support it. The motion died when no one seconded the motion. Dunn said afterward that he objected to Juneteenth because he considered it a Texas holiday specifically dealing with the emancipation of slaves in Texas — not all slaves nationwide. Gainesboro District Supervisor J. Douglas McCarthy said in December there had also been some concerns about the county having too many paid holidays and that Frederick County residents weren’t familiar with Juneteenth.
The board’s decision received criticism from members of the local NAACP as well as other county residents, who urged the board in January to make Juneteenth a paid holiday.
Opequon District Supervisor Bob Wells and Stonewall District Supervisor Judith McCann-Slaughter said during the board’s Jan. 13 meeting that they thought the vote on Dec. 9 was whether to rename Juneteenth as Emancipation Day — not whether to recognize the holiday itself — and that they didn’t vote on Dec. 9 because they didn’t think Juneteenth should be renamed. But McCarthy said that December’s vote was, in fact, about whether to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for county employees.
On March 24, the Board of Supervisors unanimously decided to send the matter back to the HR Committee.
The committee decided on Friday that, rather than specifically vote on Juneteenth, the county should eliminate listing specific county holidays and automatically agree to recognize federal and state holidays. Since Juneteenth is a state holiday, it would be recognized by the county under the proposed policy .
“This amendment has nothing to do with Juneteenth,” said County Administrator Kris Tierney at the meeting. “What it does is it says, ‘We will honor state and federal holidays.’ So if Juneteenth is one of them, fine. If for some reason it gets removed [by the state], then we don’t honor it. What we are trying to avoid is that controversy where certain holidays become controversial. We are just saying, we are not going to be part of that controversy. We are just going to follow whatever the state and federal holidays are, in addition to Apple Blossom.”
The matter will go before the Board of Supervisors at a future meeting.
April 12, 2021 at 11:00AM
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Frederick committee recommends revising county's holiday policy | Winchester Star | winchesterstar.com - The Winchester Star
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