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City Council Votes Unanimously to Celebrate MLK Day
By Jerry | November 13, 2007
Snellville council votes to celebrate MLK Day
By D.AILEEN DODD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/12/07
The Snellville City Council on Monday unanimously agreed to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as an official holiday.
Monday’s decision will make Snellville the 11th city in Gwinnett County to honor the national observance. Members of the Gwinnett branch NAACP and residents in the city of Snellville have been pushing the city to shut down for King Day.
“I think it is very important that we recognize this holiday and we do that this year,” said city council member Kelly Kautz.
City officials said the holiday had not been observed previously because they had to decide how to pay for it.
In September, when the issue was last discussed, the City Council asked its staff to look into how the holiday could be observed without creating an additional burden for taxpayers.
Three options — adding a new holiday to the calendar at a total cost of $46,000 to $50,000 and two other possibilities that would come at no cost — were discussed at a work session before the city council meeting on Monday.
City leaders, however, could not agree on which option was best.
“I don’t know that I’m ready to spend $50,000 of the taxpayers’ money,” said Mayor Pro Tem Warren Auld. “I don’t think that decision should be made in haste.”
Instead, at the City Council meeting that followed, the council voted 6-0 to approve the King holiday without a financial plan in place to pay for it. Some council members were concerned that if they debated the options, the issue would drag on into 2008.
“I’m fully supportive in funding this whole thing,” said Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer. “We just have to work this out. We want to work together and be a united front.”
The City Council asked acting city manager Jim Brooks to review the options and recommend one. No allocation currently exists in the budget for an observance of Martin Luther King Day in Snellville.
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Topics: Miscellany |