By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
Canadian County’s 2023 holiday schedule has been finalized, and it follows precisely the state’s calendar for days closed.
Canadian County Commissioners, by a 3-0 vote at their Sept. 6th meeting, approved the annual schedule authorizing the closure of Canadian County government offices.
Canadian County’s holiday schedule for 2023 lists these 11 days closed:
- New Year’s Day – Monday, Jan. 2
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Monday, Jan. 16
- Presidents’ Day – Monday, Feb. 20
- Memorial Day – Monday, May 29
- Independence Day – Tuesday, July 4
- Labor Day – Monday, Sept. 4
- Veterans Day – Friday, Nov. 10
- Thanksgiving – Thursday and Friday, Nov. 23-24
- Christmas – Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 25-26
Of note, both Canadian County’s and the State of Oklahoma’s 2023 holiday schedules do not include Columbus Day or the Juneteenth observance.
Federal government offices are closed for Columbus Day and Juneteenth.
However, the federal holiday calendar includes only one day for Thanksgiving and one day for Christmas.
Canadian County District 1 Commissioner Marc Hader said he likes including “multiple days” for Thanksgiving and Christmas to allow county employees time to get together with family on those holidays.
District 3 Commissioner Jack Stewart, in recommending that Canadian County follows the state’s holiday schedule, said all employees here “expect” two days off work for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Hader indicated he’s “tired of the politics” surrounding Juneteenth.
Canadian County Commissioners were asked in September 2021 to add Juneteenth to this year’s holiday schedule as a “paid day off” for county personnel. They unanimously declined.
The Yukon City Council did pass a resolution April 5 to include Juneteenth in the City of Yukon’s calendar, and city government offices were closed in June for that observance.
President Joe Biden in 2021 signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, recognizing June 19 as a federal holiday.
June 19 is the anniversary of when news reached Galveston, Texas in 1865 that the Civil War had ended and “all enslaved persons were then released from the bondage of slavery,” according to a resolution.
Juneteenth celebrations acknowledge the “catastrophic legacy of slavery for generations of Black/African Americans and celebrates the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States”, the document reads.
THIS AND THAT …
In other business at their weekly meeting Sept. 6, Canadian County Commissioners approved:
- A revised $49,750 quote from Super Dave’s Comfort Systems to repair rooftop HVAC (heating, venting and air conditioning) units at the Canadian County Children’s Justice Center. The price has increased from $38,950 since commissioners first awarded the quote July 18; Super Dave’s price is still the lowest.
- Acknowledging the designation of Kimberly Killman and Heather Dunavin as requisitioning officers and Torian Butler and Tamara Storrs as receiving officers for the Canadian County Health Department.
- A resolution allowing the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office to accept the donation of a grill and 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition valued at $938.96 from Park Slope Productions.
- An agreement between the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office and Yukon Public Schools to provide uniformed security services on YPS campuses for the 2022-23 school year (read more in an upcoming edition).
Canadian County Undersheriff Kevin Ward gave the weekly county jail report showing an inmate population totaling 236 – with 186 prisoners at the El Reno lock-up and 50 housed in other counties.
