Government offices close for Thanksgiving holiday

By James Beaty

McAlester City Hall will be closed on Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving, while some city services will continue to be offered during a checkered schedule over the holidays.

Different schedules are also planned for Pittsburg County offices, the McAlester Public Library, the Pittsburg County Health Department, state offices and for the U.S. Postal Service and other federal offices.

Plans call for McAlester City Hall to remain open until 5 p.m. on Wednesday before closing on Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.

“There will be no city trash pick-ups on Thursday or Friday,” said Carla Crittenden, administrative assistant in the city’s Engineering Department.

“Residential and commercial trash pick-ups will resume on schedule on Saturday,” Crittenden said. However, that doesn’t mean the city sanitation workers will be backtracking to make the pickups they missed on Thursday and Friday, she said.

People who won’t get their trash picked up on Thursday and Friday of this week will have it picked up when they fall back into the cycle after their regular schedule is resumed next week, according to Crittenden.

Meanwhile, the McAlester Municipal Landfill is to be closed for two days before reopening during the weekend.

“The city landfill will be closed on Thursday and Friday, but it will be open on Saturday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.,” said Crittenden.

City emergency services, such as police, ambulance and fire protection, are to continue as usual through the holidays.

Plans call for all Pittsburg County government offices, including the Pittsburg County Courthouse offices, to close at noon on Wednesday.

The county offices are to remain closed on Thursday and Friday before reopening as usual at 8 a.m. on Monday.

Anyone wanting to get that Influenza A H1N1 swine flu virus vaccination or any other services at the Pittsburg County Health Department this week had better do it prior to closing time on Wednesday.

The Pittsburg County Health Department, which is affiliated with the Oklahoma State Department of Health, is to remain open until its regular closing time of Wednesday at 5 p.m. It will then be closed on Thursday and Friday, before reopening at 8 a.m. on Monday.

Those wanting something to read, listen to or watch over the holidays, or would like to use public access computers, will have an opportunity to do all of the above at the McAlester Public Library.

Plans call for the library to remain open until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, said Head Librarian Chris Sauro.

The McAlester Public Library will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday, but will reopen for its regular hours over the weekend — including its new Sunday hours.

“We’ll be open on Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 1:30 p.m. until 5 p.m.,” said Head Librarian Chris Sauro.

Thursday and Friday are official state holidays in Oklahoma, so state offices are to be closed on those two days.

At the federal level, Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, is an official federal holiday, but Friday is not.

The U.S. Postal Service offices will be closed on Thursday for the holidays, with no one at the windows in the postal facilities and with no mail delivery.

However, they are to be open as usual on Friday, said Postal Supervisor Lisa Kinsey at the U.S. Post Office at Fifth Street and Washington Ave. in McAlester.

Normal mail delivery will resume on Friday and Saturday and windows in post offices are to be manned as usual.

“The only day we’re closed is Thanksgiving,” Kinsey said of the Postal Service’s holiday schedule.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.

Text Only