DeKalb makes Juneteenth official paid holiday for city employees

DeKALB – Starting next year, City of DeKalb employees officially will receive a paid holiday in observance of Juneteenth, city officials say, in the city’s efforts to mark the newest federal and state holiday.

The DeKalb City Council voted, 5-1, during its Monday meeting to approve the ordinance making the holiday a paid day off for city employees. Fourth Ward Alderman Greg Perkins was the lone no vote, and Fifth Ward Alderman Scott McAdams and Seventh Ward Alderman Tony Faivre were absent from the meeting.

“We can’t make our employees go to a park or someplace and listen to speeches and have picnics and think about the meaning of this – you can’t do that for July 4th, you can’t do it for other things,” DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said during the City Council meeting Monday. “But what I’m saying is, it’s time we do. And the dialogue we’ve had in this country for the last year and in this community for the last year, I think, tells us maybe we’re finally on the road to that discussion. And I want to be part of it as long as I’m here. So that’s why I proposed it.”

The update comes after the City Council previously directed City staff to create the paid holiday during the council’s June 28 meeting, following the city’s first-ever Juneteenth block party celebration June 18 in the Annie Glidden North neighborhood.

Nicklas previously said in the June 28 meeting he wants the city to be more actively involved in “making those events meaningful” and provide the time for discussion of the holiday’s importance and “to build a juster, more equitable society.” He also previously said he thought it was important for the city to take the first step in encouraging residents to reflect on the significance of June 19, 1865.

[ ‘This is history for me’: DeKalb community celebrates Juneteenth with block party ]

Perkins said before the vote he was behind the concept of the holiday and that’s not what concerned him about making it a paid holiday for City employees. However, he said city employees already get 11 paid holidays.

“So in the private sector, typically, private sector businesses have eight to 10 holidays,” Perkins said. “So what we’re talking about here is taking what I think is already a generous benefit at 11 and bumping it to 12.”

First Ward Alderwoman Carolyn Morris said she believes trading Juneteenth for another paid holiday off, for example, defeats the purpose of the newly established federal holiday.

“I think that that substantially diminishes the intrinsic value of the holiday,” Morris said. “ ... I just think you can’t really put a price on it.”

Nicklas said banking institutions, for example, already give 13 paid holidays to employees already. He said he believes Juneteenth is as essential of a holiday as Presidents’ Day to observe the founding of the U.S. and Memorial Day, to acknowledge military veterans who died in service to the country.

“So in 1776, we had a very conservative revolutionary document that said that all men are created equal, right? But there wasn’t a black person or woman in the room or a Latin person or anybody else,” Nicklas said. “And it took all the way to the Civil War and a lot of blood to say that, ‘Damn it, what we meant was all persons are created equal.’ ... And then it took us another hundred years beyond that. So it’s 250 years, practically, to where we are now.”

Nicklas also said the right to vote is being threatened in some states.

“So what I’m saying is, folks, it’s time for us to honor everybody who has the same right to the civil rights that were part of the founding fathers intentions,” Nicklas said. “And this is a small way to do that.”

DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes said he understood Perkins’s point.

“We do have a fiduciary responsibility being up here, so I appreciate your comments – absolutely – and I know we’re all behind having this ordinance go through,” Barnes said. “We have to ask those questions and you’re right, maybe come [collective bargaining unit] negotiation time, we can have those conversations with some of those units and see what might be able to be done.”

However, Barnes said he agreed with Nicklas.

“This is one of those things that’s just too important,” Barnes said. “We need to recognize that we need to back it. We need to show leadership in our community for a holiday like this.”