HomeMy Public PortalAbout2020_09_22_R096 Juneteenth Town Holiday The Town of
Leesburg,
Virginia
PRESENTED: September 22, 2020
RESOLUTION NO. 020-096 ADOPTED: September 22, 2020
A RESOLUTION: DECLARATION OF JUNE 19 AS A TOWN HOLIDAY IN
OBSERVANCE OF THE JUNETEENTH HOLIDAY
WHEREAS, the Town provides employees a minimum of 12.5 paid days off work for
each fiscal year for holiday observance per the Town's Personnel Procedures Manual; and
WHEREAS, the Town Council approves holiday dates that are published by the
Town's Human Resources Division; and
WHEREAS, Juneteenth is the oldest known commemoration of the end of slavery in
the United States. It marks the day in 1865 that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, the last
of the former Confederate states to abolish slavery, finally heard that the Civil War had ended,
and learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had made them free nearly two years earlier;
and
WHEREAS, on June 16, 2020, Commonwealth of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam
announced his intent to make Juneteenth a permanent state holiday, and gave Virginia state
employees Friday, June 19, 2020 the day off; and
WHEREAS, many Virginia counties, cities, and towns followed suit observing the
holiday in 2020; and
WHEREAS, Town Council declares Town holidays,but was not scheduled to meet in
the short time between the announcement by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the actual
holiday, the Town of Leesburg did not close on June 19, 2020, but Town Management made
employees aware of the Governor's observance of Juneteenth and encouraged the use of
liberal leave to observe the holiday; and
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A RESOLUTION: DECLARATION OF JUNE 19 AS A TOWN HOLIDAY IN
OBSERVANCE OF THE JUNETEENTH HOLIDAY
WHEREAS, an additional holiday will result in incremental costs to the Town of
about $32,000 for employees that work shifts during the holiday period in the Police
Department, Utilities Department, Public Works, and Parks &Recreation; and
WHEREAS, for Fiscal Year 2021, the associated personnel costs with an incremental
holiday will be managed through personnel savings, and the costs will be included in the
Town's fiscal year budgets going forward.
THEREFORE, RESOLVED, by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia
hereby declares June 19 a Town holiday in observance of the Juneteenth holiday.
PASSED this 22'day of September, 2020.
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Kell : OrMayor
Town of Leesburg
ATTEST:
41.24.� •
Clerk of Council
LF\LeesburgRMS\Town Clerk\Resolutions\2020\0922 Juneteenth Town Holiday