Norfolk makes Election Day a holiday; city offices will be closed

Norfolk — Less than a week before Election Day, Norfolk’s City Council voted to make the day a city holiday.

That means on the first Tuesday in November, city employees will be off of work and city offices will be closed.

This follows the decision of the state earlier this year to replace Lee-Jackson Day with Election Day on the state calendar of holidays. While several other localities follow that calendar by default for their own operational schedules, several Hampton Roads cities including Norfolk do not.

The council’s approval was, however, unusually contentious. It passed on just a 5-3 margin, with several council members criticizing the lack of discussion and the potential financial impact related to the move. Councilmen Tommy Smigiel, Martin Thomas and Paul Riddick all voted against the addition of the holiday.

The council had not planned in advance to consider the move at Tuesday’s council meeting. It was added abruptly to the council agenda Tuesday, to the apparent frustration of a couple of council members.

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City Manager Chip Filer said making it a holiday would mean those employees who still need to work on Election Day, like police officers and fire and rescue staff, would need to be paid overtime, to the tune of around $250,000 to $280,000. For comparison, a day of furloughs that employees had been required to take as a result of the pandemic saved the city a bit more than $300,000, Filer said.

Councilwoman Mamie Johnson said she wished there had been more time to discuss the finer points of the move, though she ultimately supported the measure.

“It’s not just a yes or no vote. There are fiscal responsibilities that we have to take into consideration," Johnson said.

Smigiel argued at length over the method by which the measure was added to the agenda, which he said didn’t give enough time for council consideration or for the public to weigh in.

“I’m a little bit disturbed that an item was walked onto the agenda without any notice, especially with something that has a cost to the city," Smigiel said.

The closure of city offices on Nov. 3 also means that the City Council work session that was planned for that date was canceled. That decision was approved on a 6-2 vote, with Thomas and Smigiel again voting against.

Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com