CLAREMONT — The city’s display in Broad Street Park for the upcoming holidays, which includes religious and secular symbols, will be governed by guidelines instead of a proposed city ordinance to ensure there are no constitutional violations, the mayor said.
Mayor Charlene Lovett told the council Wednesday that the city’s legal counsel told her it could not research case law and write an ordinance in time for a council vote prior to decorating season in early November.
Instead, Lovett said, a “memorandum of law” will be written with specific guidelines for the display so everything meets a constitutionality test. The mayor believes the city’s attorney will look at the recommendations approved by the council in a 5-4 vote last month, which came out of the policy committee.
Chief among those was that no single display is given prominence. The city believes it is on solid legal ground with the recommendations with respect to the First Amendment’s clause against an establishment of religion. Officials have referenced a Rhode Island display with religious symbols on public property that was ruled constitutional in 1984 because those symbols blended with secular ones and did not stand out.
“The majority (of people) in the city want the display to continue, and that is why we are going forward,” Lovett said. “But we want to be sure (volunteers) don’t inadvertently put up a display that violates the constitution.”
The issue grew out of a complaint by a resident last year that the Nativity scene and menorah in the park amounted to a government endorsement of religion. The council eventually referred the issue to the policy committee, which completed its work and made its recommendation to the council last month.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
