Pulaski County employees will get 15 paid holidays in 2018, including both the May and November elections. The county commissioners approved next year’s holiday schedule Monday, but not without plenty of discussion.
The proposal presented to the commissioners did not initially include either election day. Commissioner Kenny Becker noted that county employees have traditionally been given those days off during election years, but some other counties are doing away with that.
Commissioner Mike McClure had some concerns about the number of proposed holidays. “Do we really want to make the election days?” he asked. “That would give them 15 holidays.”
But Commissioner Jerry Locke said he’d hate to take away benefits from employees. “Well, we’ve got to keep the morale of the county employees,” he said, “and if we take away a couple holidays, I’m afraid that would turn it in the wrong direction.”
McClure, though, questioned whether employees felt strongly about not having to work on days like Election Day or Good Friday. “The Monday after the Super Bowl, probably, they’d appreciate off just as much, to be honest, if we’re going to give them a perk,” he said.
Of the department heads in attendance, Auditor Laura Wheeler didn’t appear to have any strong opinion one way or the other, while Assessor Holly VanDerAa said it’s nice to have some extra perks. Meanwhile, Highway Superintendent Terry Ruff said it’s hard for his employees to do their jobs while public events like voting are taking place in the Highway Garage.
Eventually, McClure agreed to include both election days in the holiday schedule, noting that it gives employees the chance to help with the election. “They had election days off because a lot of the people that worked in the courthouse and the county garage and stuff were also precinct committeemen, and they would go help the disabled and the elderly come vote. So I guess on that behalf, let’s go ahead and give them the election day off, too.”
With that addition, the commissioners unanimously approved the 2018 holiday schedule, along with the county pay schedule. The commissioners also voted to continue meeting at 6:00 p.m. the first Monday of each month and 8:00 a.m. on the third Monday, with a few exceptions for holidays.
