SUBJECT: Resolution
Title
A Resolution of the Board of Trustees of the Town of Erie Recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a Town Observed Holiday and Adding a Floating Holiday to the Town’s Benefit Package
Body
DEPARTMENT: Administration
PRESENTER: Malcolm Fleming, Town Administrator
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND OF SUBJECT MATTER:
In 1983 President Reagan signed legislation designating the 3rd Monday of January as a Federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Since then, all 50 state governments, most local governments, most large corporations and many private companies have followed suit to designate the day as a paid holiday. However, MLK Day is not currently among the 10 designated holidays observed by the Town of Erie. As Town Administrator, I recommend changing that.
The Town of Erie currently observes the following holidays:
Holiday Date of Observance
New Year's Day First Day of January
President’s Day Third Monday of February
Memorial Day Last Monday of May
Independence Day Fourth Day of July
Labor Day First Monday of September
Thanksgiving Day Fourth Thursday of November
Day after Thanksgiving Fourth Friday of November
Christmas Eve Day Twenty-fourth Day of December
Christmas Day Twenty-fifth Day of December
New Year’s Eve Day Thirty-first Day of December
For retention and recruiting purposes, the Town must offer a competitive benefits package. Of the 23 local governments in our area (not including Denver), Erie is one of only 4 that don’t designate MLK Day as a holiday (Federal Heights, Firestone and Weld County are the other 3). Please see the attached comparison.
Prospective employees look at the holidays offered by employers, and seeing MLK Day missing from the list sends the wrong message. Not designating MLK Day also sends the wrong message to a much larger audience. I’d like to send a message to current and prospective employees, and the larger community, that Erie is inclusive.
Furthermore, of those 23 local governments, with whom Erie competes for employees, 7 have 11 scheduled holidays, 5 have 12 or more scheduled holidays, and one, our closest neighbor to the west, Lafayette, has 10 scheduled holidays and also provides employees with 3 additional floating holidays.
The Town has an Innovation Team composed of employees from each Town department who voluntarily devote time to evaluating and making recommendations on ways to retain and recruit highly qualified employees. When the Innovation Team looked at this issue, including the way numerous organizations have implemented floating holidays, they recommended Erie also offer a floating holiday, and they outlined several strategies for successful implementation.
I want to honor the Innovation Team’s work and thoughtful recommendation. And I am also cost conscious. For that reason I consulted with Finance Director Steve Felten, regarding the fiscal impact of increasing the number of holidays in the Town’s benefits package. Steve explained that the only fiscal impact of designating MLK Day as a scheduled holiday and adding a floating holiday would be the overtime pay required to provide coverage in PD and PW on the scheduled holiday and as needed to provide adequate coverage when an employee takes a floating holiday in those departments. Steve’s assessment is that fiscal impact would be minimal.
Designating MLK Day as a holiday would have an impact on Town residents and customers who may want to speak with or meet with Town staff on the holiday. Since most other governments are closed on MLK Day, I believe if the Board approves this request, Town staff can use clear communication on the Town website, social media and local media to make residents and customers aware of the holiday closure and make arrangements to conduct their business on another day.
For all these reasons, I recommend designating MLK Day as a scheduled holiday for the Town of Erie and adding a floating holiday to the Town’s benefits package.
In reviewing this proposal, one Trustee recommended also adding Veteran’s Day to the holidays the Town recognizes. I support that consideration. Since Erie’s nearest neighboring jurisdiction, Lafayette, provides employees a total of 13 holidays, adding both MLK Day, Veterans Day, and a floating holiday would make Erie’s holiday benefit comparable with Lafayette’s.
For the reasons noted above, I ask for the Board’s approval to (1) add Martin Luther King Jr. Day to the 10 other scheduled holidays the Town observes, (2) add a floating holiday to the Town’s benefits package, and (3) consider also adding Veterans Day to the Town’s scheduled holidays.
If the Board approves, staff will implement these changes effective January 1, 2020.
ATTACHMENTS:
Resolution
Comparison of local jurisdictions’ recognized holidays.