Victor A. Patton
The Merced FOCUS

The Merced City Council voted 4-3 Monday to pass revisions to the flag policy suggested earlier this year by Councilmember Shane Smith, who represents District 4 in north Merced.

Monday’s council vote updates section C-7 of the city’s administrative policies and procedures so that in order to be flown, commemorative flags must come by the suggestion of a council member and requires a majority of council support.

Mayor Matthew Serratto and council members Mike Harris and Ronnie De Anda joined Smith in the majority vote supporting the revisions.

Councilmembers Sarah Boyle, Darin DuPont and Fue Xiong cast the dissenting votes.

Smith told his fellow council members that although there are “a lot of good reasons” to do away with flying commemorative flags altogether, he would like to try doing it in a way that’s an overall “net positive” for the city’s diverse communities – while also preventing potential legal action.

“If it doesn’t work, we can always change it after the fact,” Smith said.

Monday’s council vote also affirms flying commemorative flags as solely government speech, not a forum for public expression.

Moving forward, the council members will decide among themselves during their first October meeting which commemorative flags will be flown in Bob Hart Square the following year.

Background on Policy Changes

Up until earlier this year, the city offered an application on its website allowing third parties to make requests for commemorative flags to fly in downtown’s Bob Hart Square.

So far this year, the city council approved commemorative flags recognizing Black History Month and Pride Month, plus a Christian flag that is currently flying in Bob Hart Square in recognition of Easter.

During the council’s Feb. 18 meeting, Smith argued the city’s flag policy made the flagpole a forum for public expression.

Furthermore, if the council denied a request to fly a flag, Smith said the city could be held liable on constitutional grounds for violating the First Amendment – even if the third party filing the application had a message the city found disagreeable.

At Smith’s urging, Merced leaders agreed to remove the flag application from the city’s website.

Apart from that, The Merced FOCUS recently reported someone filed an application to fly a Satanic flag in Bob Hart Square. The city denied that application, saying it was filed in an untimely manner.

There was also some debate back in February when the council approved a church group’s application to fly the Christian flag. Councilmember Xiong cast the lone vote against that decision, and The Freedom From Religion Foundation organization also filed an objection letter.

Views Vary on the Policy

Before Smith’s Smith’s proposed flag revisions eeked out majority support on Monday, there was no shortage of robust – yet respectful – city council debate on the policy.

Councilmembers DuPont and Boyle both leaned toward flying only U.S. and state government flags and doing away with commemorative flags altogether.

“What is our role?,” DuPont asked. “Is our role, as a government agency and as a council, to force people to believe in an idea that we fly over our city? I just don’t see that as the role of government and the role that we are put on this dais for.”

“We’re put on this dais to make sure that we have public safety and water flowing to houses,” DuPont said. “I just don’t think this symbolic policy, and those types of symbolic policies, need to continue. There’s, I think, higher priorities.”

Boyle said reserving the city flagpoles for just government flags maintains a position of neutrality on the city’s part, rather than giving an impression of endorsing a particular social or political cause.

“We’ve seen how divisive the flag decisions can be,” Boyle said. “Getting rid of the flag policy or just the commemorative flag part, it will allow us to focus on what we were elected to do.” 

Meanwhile, Mayor Serratto said although he understands those arguments, controversy and division will likely exist regardless of anything the city does.

The flag raising ceremonies he’s attended thus far have been positive, Serratto said, and he’s not ready to completely ditch commemorative flags just yet.

“Maybe through this our citizens can learn to celebrate their differences a little more, learn to appreciate each other a little more,” Serratto said.

“I don’t know if that’s well founded or not, but we have to learn to be less divisive, we have to learn to appreciate each others’ differences better and live better together.”

Smith said while he could see DuPont’s point, the city isn’t devoid of symbolism in other aspects of how it conducts business. For example, he pointed to the religious invocations which are given at the beginning of each council meeting.

“All I am arguing for now is giving ourselves the tool, if we choose to, to make a statement and fly a commemorative flag,” Smith said. “But if we want to take all the symbolism out, I think we need to take a deep look in the mirror and really review our practices top to bottom, and maybe make some other changes.”

Although Councilmember De Anda ultimately voted for the suggested revisions to the flag policy, he personally stated the American and California flags are the only ones that are truly necessary.

“Before we know it, we’re gonna have tons of flags out there. And to me, it just doesn’t make any sense,” De Anda said. “Do we really need to have a flag for every individual that there is out there?”

Harris, who supported Smith’s updates to the flag policy, said he’s willing to see how well the changes work. He said the council can always change it, if issues remain.

Xiong, in voting against the flag revisions, said the policy should remain as is. Xiong also cited examples of cultural and other celebrations held in Merced, dedicated to a variety of groups.

“We allow them to rent the entire downtown, and yet, at the same time, we’re saying that ‘you can’t fly a flag.’” Xiong said. “Community members actually want the original (policy) language. So unfortunately, Councilmember Smith, that’s where I stand in supporting the original language.”

Merced isn’t the only Valley city where the issue of commemorative flags has been debated.

Fresno leaders previously grappled with whether to fly LGBTQ+ flags in honor of Pride month. Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, a Republican, also made headlines after he reversed his position and came out in support of flying the Pride flag.

About the Author

Victor Patton is editor-in-chief of The Merced FOCUS.