The Abilene City Council on Thursday in a unanimous vote designated Juneteenth as the 12th holiday for city of Abilene employees following passionate discussion in the council's chambers.
June 19 recently was designated as a national holiday.
Councilwoman Donna Albus initially argued that Juneteenth should be a floating holiday, an opinion that earned ire from some commenters.
Councilman Kyle McAlister, too, said he had no problem with adding Juneteenth as a 12th holiday, "but I think we can make it a floating holiday to let folks celebrate in a way that they want to celebrate."
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Standing on its own
"I think my blood pressure went up," said the Rev. Iziar Lankford in response to the floating holiday suggestion.
Lankford, who advocated the city make the occasion a full holiday, said his grandmother, who was a schoolteacher, taught him about Juneteenth.
Her mother, from Tennessee, was sold at an auction at 11 years old, Lankford said, and made "the house girl," doing "all the cooking and all the cleaning."
"I'm only the third generation removed from slavery," Lankford said, who said he went to a segregated school as a boy.
He said he believed "Juneteenth needs to stand on its own."
"How could you even think that I would be happy making it a floating holiday?" Lankford said.
More: 'I'm just overjoyed': Impact, potential of Juneteenth noted at Stevenson Park celebration
Council approves
The majority of the council, however, was in favor of simply adding another city holiday to the calendar.
"Juneteenth was when we finally said to everybody (that) freedom applies to everybody," Councilman Shane Price said. "And so for me, I'm supportive of having this as a city holiday because it's as important as Independence Day. Because it's true independence for all Americans."
Councilman Lynn Beard said he was "fully supportive" of a 12th city holiday.
"I think the significance of Juneteenth is difficult to understate," he said. "The number (of people in) our population that is affected by this and has been historically is very significant. The state has been recognizing this for a long time. I'm glad to see this finally recognized as a national holiday."
In other business ...
The council:
►Approved a first reading of an ordinance requesting a 5% increase in stormwater fees in the 2021-22 fiscal year to help fund the city's master drainage plan.
The increase will be voted on at the council's August meeting. It would generate revenue with priority toward design, construction and implementation for capital improvements.
David Swart was among those who complained about the potential fee increase.
"You're going to fee us to death," Swart said. "I believe this should be taken out of the general fund ... Do it from the sales tax and property tax."
City Manager Robert Hanna said the city's master plan was to mitigate flooding and stormwater impact.
"You could move this in the general fund and get away form the stormwater fund," he said, but that would require a raise in property taxes.
"You've got to pay for it somehow," he said, adding that the dedicated funding stream means there is no way the dollars could be "peeled off to pay for police or fire or anything else that money could get trickled away for."
► Declared each June 26 as Mark Rogers Day.
Rogers, who headed Big Brothers Big Sisters of Abilene, died in an two-vehicle auto crash in March.
More: Abilene PD: Driver involved in crash that killed Mark Rogers arrested, was going 127 mph
Rogers' father, Urban Rogers, said his son "loved Abilene."
"We knew that he knew a lot of people when we moved here, but we had no idea of the vast number of people, ranging from all the socioeconomic spectrum of Abilene," he said. "... From the time he was little, (Mark) was always trying to help people."
Councilman Travis Craver said, "Mark made every single one of us in this room feel special, even though he was ... the busiest man in the room."
Brian Bethel covers city and county government and general news for the Abilene Reporter-News. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.
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Abilene council makes Juneteenth a full city holiday - Abilene Reporter-News
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