‘I found a way to vote.’ Move to create extra time off for Macon-Bibb employees stalls

Macon-Bibb County Commissioners Virgil Watkins and Elaine Lucas came up with an idea to give county employees a holiday on election days.

The idea met some resistance from fellow commissioners so Watkins modified the time off to include wellness and other civic activities and reduced it to a half day.

Those changes still didn’t work.

A committee of the Macon-Bibb County Commission on Tuesday voted to table the resolution that would have given employees time off for civic and wellness activities.

The resolution came before the Operations and Finance Committee, which Watkins chairs. After Watkins explained the motion, Commissioner Scotty Shepherd made a motion to table it, and the motion was approved 3-2 without discussion.

Shepherd and commissioners Joe Allen and Larry Schlesinger voted for tabling it while Lucas and Watkins voted against.

Had the motion been approved, it would have gone before the full commission for a vote.

“I just don’t think we need to give them a day off for that,” Shepherd said after the meeting. “When I was working full time, I found a way to vote.”

The resolution would have given employees a half day off on the first Tuesday of March, June, September and December. It would not have covered the November election.

Watkins said the time off also would have allowed employees to engage in team-building activities.

He said he is not giving up on the idea yet.

“I’m going to keep discussing it and keep refining it and see if I can’t come up with some middle ground,” Watkins said.

He said that even with early voting, some employees may still have trouble getting to the polls, especially those who live in other counties.