Many Festus city employees will have the afternoon off to enjoy the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8.
The Festus City Council voted unanimously March 25 to not only move the council meeting from April 8 to April 9, but also to give non-essential employees the afternoon off on April 8.
Festus Police officers and firefighters and those who work in dispatch are considered essential employees, so all other city employees are considered non-essential and will get the afternoon off, unless there’s a utility or weather emergency, City Administrator Greg Camp said.
Essential employees will be given four hours of comp time since they don’t get the afternoon off, he added.
Camp said Mayor Sam Richards and Ward 4 Councilman Michael Cook initiated talks about rescheduling the council meeting, which developed into the idea to also give employees time off.
“They discussed moving the (April 8) council meeting to the next day, and it kind of rolled from there,” Camp said.
In Jefferson County, the Festus R-6, Jefferson R-7, Hillsboro R-3 and De Soto school districts are off that day for the eclipse, and the Crystal City, Grandview and Sunrise school districts have four-day school weeks and typically are off on Mondays, including on April 8.
Jefferson County lies outside the area that will experience totality, but residents will experience a near-total eclipse. The eclipse will start at about 12:30 p.m. and end about 3:15 p.m., with totality beginning at about 1:50 p.m.