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Public backlash over proclamations, invocations and staff workload dominates Battleground council meeting
Summary
Dozens of residents used the council's public-comment period to criticize recent proclamations and the mayor’s refusal to authorize some proclamations, pressed for clearer proclamation guidelines, and raised related concerns about public-records demands and community division.
Residents pressed the Battle Ground City Council on July 20 over the city’s handling of proclamations and invocations, the mayor’s choices about which proclamations to sign, and the workload those items generated for staff.
John Idsinga, a longtime resident, said the proclamations have driven turnout and conflict at council meetings and questioned council conduct during the pledge of allegiance. “You should be ashamed of yourself if you are one of those people that needs to sit down during the pledge of allegiance,” Idsinga said, criticizing audience members who sat during the pledge and arguing the city should have more unifying community events for the city’s 75th anniversary.
Several other speakers said the mayor has applied proclamation guidelines inconsistently. Simon told the mayor he had “broken Battleground’s trust” by denying some proclamations while approving others and asked how invocations could be made fair if the council adopts them. Jessica Cole and April Hall urged the council to avoid proclamations that they said have deepened divisions; Nancy Tarr and others said the rejected International Friendship Day proclamation missed an opportunity to signal community unity.
Mayor Eric Overholser responded that staff had compiled data showing the public reaction to proclamations had led to a significant staff response and said he sought clarity and context before changing long-standing practices. Finance and information services director Megan Lowry told the council staff had recorded nine public-records requests tied specifically to proclamations and had logged a much larger number of emails and staff responses. “There was 9,” Lowry said when describing proclamation-related public-records activity; she also said staff had responded to more than 1,457 emails that were council-related during the reporting period.
Council members agreed to ask the clerk’s office and relevant staff to produce a clearer breakout of public-records requests and time spent so the council could better understand the costs and staffing impacts of proclamations and the subsequent public reaction. The council emphasized that public records requests are a right but said the pattern of high-volume responses had affected staffing time.
The meeting did not change the city's proclamation policy during the session; several speakers asked the council to publish clear, uniform guidelines and to consider alternatives that would not consume staff time.
The public-comment period also included unrelated concerns: there were multiple comments about people camping in the community-center parking lot and about a perceived ICE presence in the city; those speakers urged more code enforcement or policy changes but did not prompt immediate council action. The council moved on to other agenda items after the comment period concluded.
