CLAREMONT — The City Council on Wednesday night narrowly approved a recommendation governing the display of religious and secular symbols in Broad Street Park after a complaint last December by a resident who claimed a Nativity scene and menorah violated the First Amendment’s clause against government-established religion.
The recommendation, approved, 5-4, now will be passed on to legal counsel for the drafting of an ordinance, which will need to come back to the council and be presented at a public hearing.
Councilors hope to enact the ordinance before the holidays. The park’s decorations are installed in early November.
The recommendation addresses several issues including the city’s responsibility to store and maintain the holiday displays, to transport them to and from the park and have the Parks and Recreation Department oversee the installation of the displays by volunteers. The Fire Department puts the lights on the tall trees.
In hopes of addressing the concerns of a few residents opposed to the religious symbols, the recommendation is designed to “ensure diversification of symbols and not promote the beliefs of one segment of the population over another.”
To that end, illumination of some displays and not others does not support that diversity, the recommendation states. In the past, a Nativity scene has been lit at night but other displays were not.
Mayor Charlene Lovett; Assistant Mayor Allen Damren; and councilors Claire Lessard, Abigail Kier and Scott Pope supported the policy, while councilors Andrew O’Hearne; Jonathan Stone, a member of the policy committee that came up with the recommendation, Kristin Kenniston and Nick Koloksi voted no.
Kenniston said she approved of the policy’s protections of city employees but not the display portion.
“The display is fine,” Kenniston said. “I have a problem with a policy on how to set up the display every time.”
Resident Sam Killay, who complained to the city last year about the religious symbols, did not speak at the council meeting Wednesday.
Stone, who voiced no objections to the agreed-upon recommendation during the policy committee’s last two meetings, said the current Broad Street Park display is constitutionally protected. But Lovett told the council that Claremont attorney Tom Connair said the city can improve the diversity of the religious and secular symbols and the recommendation provides guidelines on what that would look like.
She said court rulings have been on specific displays and the city must not make the mistake of giving prominence to any one symbol or it could risk losing a court decision.
Two Supreme Court cases cited frequently during the discussions the last several months highlight how displays can be ruled unconstitutional or constitutional. In Pennsylvania, a Nativity scene on the steps of the courthouse was ruled unconstitutional, while in Rhode Island a display that blended secular and religious symbols was declared constitutional by the high court.
Resident Joe Osgood wanted the council to leave everything as is and not write a set of guidelines in hopes of satisfying a small minority who protested the religious displays. He also said a detailed policy would only give “plaintiffs” more openings to sue.
“The bigger the policy, the more apt you are to go to court,” Osgood said.
Walt Stapleton, Claremont resident and Republican state representative who attended many of the policy committee meetings, said the recommendation strikes the right balance of all views and more importantly provides guidance to volunteers putting up the displays.
“I believe you have to go with this policy; otherwise, anything goes,” Stapleton said.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
