Marietta to vote again on making Juneteenth a holiday for city workers

MARIETTA, Ga. — The Marietta City Council will vote for a second time Friday to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for city workers.

The vote comes one week after the mayor vetoed the plan.

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Council member Cheryl Richardson originally put the Juneteenth motion on the agenda earlier this month.

The city council passed it during a meeting, 4-3, but Mayor Steve Tumlin vetoed the motion.

Tumlin said he supports it as other cities have, but he wanted to attach Veterans Day along with Juneteenth to make them both a city wide holiday. Both days are already federal holidays.

City officials will be at city hall Friday at noon to vote on both holidays.

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Channel 2 Cobb Bureau Chief Michele Newell spoke with residents about the motion.

“I absolutely think it should be a paid city holiday. I believe that it is time for us to recognize a very important time in our history and I think it should be a paid holiday for all city officials,” Lori Flanagin said.

Juneteenth is a paid holiday already in several counties and cities for their workers.

Fulton and DeKalb counties made it a holiday in 2020. Cobb and Clayton counties approved it in 2021. Gwinnett County is the most recent county to adopt Juneteenth as a holiday.

Gov. Brian Kemp made Juneteenth a paid day off for Georgia employees earlier this month.

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