Vicksburg adopts provisions for city employees when they come back to work

Coming back to work may look and feel different for City of Vicksburg employees than what they’ve been used to.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. announced in a Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting Friday that all city employees will be scanned for fever when they return to work on April 20, or when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. The scans will check employees’ temperatures for three days when they return to work.

“We value your safety,” Flaggs said. “We want to know that every employee doesn’t have at least that symptom.”

The board approved canceling Confederate Memorial Day as a paid holiday this year. The holiday is observed in many southern states, and remains an official state holiday in Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee. Scheduled for Monday, March 27, this year, the City of Vicksburg will not recognize the holiday with an automatic day off. Employees can still choose to take the day off for themselves.

“We have been good to our employees. They’re not missing time off,” Flaggs said. “They’ve been paid, and this is a way we can capture that money, so we are going to do that.”

If you are an employee and choose to take that day off, keep in mind that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen are limiting vacation time to one day off at a time from April 20 through May 30.

There is a special exception for vacation time for the police and fire department. Fire Chief Craig Danczyk has canceled all vacation time for the fire department until the COVID-19 crisis is resolved. With first responders not being able to take vacation right now, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen hope they can use the time built up during the pandemic later.

“I believe in Vicksburg, Mississippi,” Flaggs said. “I believe we’re doing everything we need to do despite the inconvenience.”

With 12 confirmed cases in Warren County, the mayor is convinced Vicksburg is on the right track to flatten the curve in our area.

“When you look at 25,000 people [in the city] and look at the county of 48,000 people, I think some of the things the Board of Supervisors and the City of Vicksburg have done collectively have impacted these numbers by being proactive,” Flaggs said.

The 12 confirmed cases in the county include the tests conducted at the free testing site on March 31, Flaggs said.

With Easter on the horizon, Flaggs hopes there isn’t a spike in confirmed cases for Warren County. He encourages residents to continue to do what is being asked of them.

Mayor Flaggs asked for forgiveness from his employees and Vicksburg residents during this difficult process.

“I didn’t want to go to bed at night thinking I hadn’t done what I should have done,” Flaggs said.

The mayor added that nothing has been more important “than trying to save lives, and minimize and mitigate this virus as best I knew, and I didn’t mean no harm to nobody,” he said.