Kootenai County Juggles Holidays Columbus Day Replaced By Floating Day Off

Columbus Day will be a workday for Kootenai County employees in the future.

County commissioners voted Tuesday to drop the October paid holiday. They replaced it with a floating holiday, which most of the county’s 560 workers will take on the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The move was a practical one. Commissioners wanted to keep the number of paid holidays to 10, and most departments already were giving the “floater” to employees, said Tom Taggart, county administrator.

Columbus Day was deleted as a holiday because many employees are needed in October to prepare tax statements and get ready for elections, said Commissioner Ron Rankin.

Rankin said he had heard from some residents who think the county is bowing to political correctness by not dropping Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That January day honoring the slain civil rights activist is the newest holiday.

“If I had my preference, I would drop the Martin Luther King holiday,” said Rankin.

He said he doesn’t understand why King gets a holiday to himself when the “greatest presidents,” Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, are squeezed together on one shared holiday and honored with “white sales at department stores.”

However, Rankin voted for dropping Columbus Day, as did Commissioner Dick Panabaker. Commissioner Dick Compton was at another meeting and not present for the vote.

, DataTimes