10-12-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 28, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 3 of 9 He respects all servicemen and women and in everything he does and with his actions; he thanks them when he sees them, if they’re at a restaurant, he often buys them lunch anonymously and walks away after thanking them. If he sees someone with a Veterans hat on, he pays them the due respect, and gives the Vietnam Veterans the respect they deserve that they never received and noted he was unfortunately too young during Vietnam, but he did recognize what those Vets had to go through. Crosby stated he loves Veterans in the deepest core of his soul so flying this flag is no disrespect to the American Flag, and no disrespect to any Veteran; it is simply letting our Police officers know, both men and women, that the City of Orono supports them in what they do, the City cares about them, and their lives are important. He said there is no other ill-will or ill-intended message sent with this flag. He is sorry something that was supposed to be positive is being looked at in a disparaged light; however, he stands behind it, as it was a gift from Crosby to the Police Chief in showing support from this Council. He said he does not disrespect the American Flag. Johnson said in his dealings with Mr. Edwards, he doesn’t find him very loud or opinionated, so for him to stand up and let the Council know his feelings is really appreciated. Speaking for himself, when the Council took action at the time, he honestly didn’t give it much thought, but thought they’d show support for the people they ask to go out into the field and service the City. He would like to separate the emotion from the reality because he knows it’s coming from Crosby’s heart, but in Johnson’s opinion, he didn’t ask any questions before he agreed to pass the motion and if he had to do it over again, he would’ve asked more questions. The first question he would have asked is if the Police Department wanted the show of support from the Council, and noted he has a son in the Army right now. If he could do it again, he would’ve said “no, let’s keep that separate.” He also noted a logistics component of having two flags on the flagpole at the same time. He would be in favor of taking down the Police flag/blue line flag, and would like to come up with a specific time and policy – one or two days a year that are police recognition days, the anniversary of the passing of Officer Matthews – to fly the Police flag proudly. Mr. Edwards asked to clarify one thing to Mr. Crosby, stating his intention in standing up today was not to disparage the offer or the support for both service members as well as other uniformed services. His concern is not with showing support for the Police Department; he wholeheartedly agrees with that. However, his concern is the way in which they are displaying a flag on the City-owned and maintained flagpole over the Veteran’s Memorial, noting it’s the one place they should strictly follow the Code and etiquette. Mr. Edwards said he was heartened by what Crosby had done, in fact they went out and bought other flags for the other organizations, the Fire Department, etcetera, so they’d be available to honor those folks, as well. He said on the Public Works side, they installed brackets around the tall light poles in the parking lot so different commemorative flags could be flown in and around City Hall. Crosby said he wouldn’t be opposed to transferring the Police Flag to another pole and meeting halfway, if Mr. Edwards feels that it is important to him. Mayor Walsh said he agrees with what everyone is saying; he likes the policy part, and they can put the Fire Department Flag up, also. He thinks the country is at a crossroads of some very spooky situations and he doesn’t think it’s the time to start backing down, as he’s not about to do that for anything at this point. He stated he’d like to be very careful about just taking the Police Flag down, because it would also send the wrong message. Crosby noted he’s received many positive emails and phone calls.