City running draft flag policy up the pole to reach compromise

LACONIA — The city is moving closer to a policy that would allow the Pride flag — and banners representing other interests or communities — to be flown from city-owned property. However, it doesn’t appear the Pride flag will again be flown from a flagpole owned by the city.

The policy discussion is taking place between the Human Relations Committee, which is an advisory committee to the mayor, and the Government Operations Committee, a work group made up of three city councilors.

The issue of a flag policy has been flapping in the breeze since at least June, when a request from the Human Relations Committee to again fly the Pride flag at City Hall — as was done in June of the previous year — failed to gain support from City Council.

Instead, councilors chose to send the issue to the Government Operations Committee so that a policy could be crafted to govern the flying of flags from city-owned property.

Five months later, the policy is still being formed. Yet, the two sides are coming to agreement on the shape that policy could take.

At the June 12 meeting, Councilor Henry Lipman said that flying a Pride flag from City Hall would be “more divisive than unifying.” Councilors Bruce Cheney and Robert Soucy said they disagreed with spending a month to mark Pride month — June is observed as Pride month to honor LGBTQ+ civil rights struggles — while there’s only one day dedicated to veterans or for those who died during their military service.

It appears those concerns have been addressed by drawing a distinction between “flags” and “banners,” and “flagpoles” and other city-owned posts, such as lamp posts that have the ability to display banners.

A draft policy, shared with The Daily Sun, states that the only flags eligible to be flown on the city’s flag poles are those for the country, state and city, and the POW/MIA flag. However, when it comes to street lights and other posts that can display flags or banners, there could be a more open policy.

The draft policy proposes that any individual or group that wishes to make use of the city’s posts to display banners must apply to the city manager, and provide a photograph of the banner to be displayed. The banners must “symbolize or represent an event, annual observance, holiday or city council proclamation,” according to the draft. If the banners are in reference to something other than a council proclamation, then the application must be reviewed by the Human Relations Committee to ensure “compatibility with the vision and mission statements of the Laconia Human Relations Committee and a report of the review shall be forwarded to the City Manager.”

Pat Wood, a member of the Human Relations Committee, met with the Government Operations Committee last month to discuss the proposed policy. He said the two groups have had “informative and constructive” conversations about the issue. He said the draft policy is being reviewed by the Government Operations Committee and he is waiting to hear when they will be ready to discuss it again.

Wood said he would like the community to have access to the city’s light posts for display of banners, and to see a process in place to ensure the banners that are approved are acceptable to the city.

Councilor Tony Felch, who serves on the Government Operations Committee, said he approves of the policy as proposed.

“I’m pretty much all for what they have written. A couple of the other councilors might have concerns, I don’t know [since] we haven’t met since they sent that new copy to us, but I’m all for it,” Felch said. “As far as myself, I was for the Pride flag. I have been pushing to get a flag policy in place, so at least we know where anybody stands who wants to present a flag. I’m all for what they’ve put forward and I think we should move forward as soon as possible.”