It looks like Manteca will have a policy change in what can be flown on municipal flagpoles.

And it means — if the City Council follows through on the consensus they gave staff on Tuesday — the LGBTQ+, Christian, POW/MIA, and Thin Blue Line flags won’t be flying over the Civic Center and on other municipal flag poles.

The only flags allowed will be the American, State of California, and those representing the City of Manteca.

The council was even more so in agreement on taking a hands off approach to flags flown at property leased from the city.

That means the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Boys & Girls Club, as well as Big League Dreams will be free to fly whatever flag they wish.

The consensus given will be formally voted on by the City Council once a new flag policy is drafted. If adopted, it will be the third flag policy in two years.

It will also include, at Councilwoman Regina Lackey’s suggestion, municipal department flags being allowed as well as a city flag, if one is adopted in the future.

Although Mayor Gary Singh indicated he’d be in favor of commemorative flags still being allowed in some form, he agreed with the rest of the council that the direction the council gave to City Manager Toni Lundgren is the route that protects the city the best from the potential of costly litigation over the flag police.

As for leased property, Singh summed up the council’s opinion aptly noting “they know their business better than we do.”

The council had requested — and ultimately obtained — from staff a thorough presentation on viable flag policy options and the pluses and minuses.

The five options provided that outlining what constituted government speech, having a public forum, or a combination thereof.

Previously, city flag policies did not address properties leased from the city.

Allowing only the American, state, and city flags to fly on municipal property 100 percent under the city’s control, it provided a policy position that wasn’t fraught with pitfalls such as general rules not being applied consistently in regards to all requests that may be made to have commemorative flags flown.

The city could have created flag policies that reflected “City of Manteca values” or one that was more of a community forum.

The path the council is now taking avoids a repeat of what happened with the decision to fly the LGBTQ+ flag and then the Christian flag.

Some supporters of the LGBTQ+ community framed the request for the Christian flag to be displayed  — made through the same process that allowed the Pride flag to be flown — as being a retaliatory move.

That said, some in the Christian community did criticize the flying of the LGBTQ+ flag at city hall

The city, for its part, approved both requests as they were representative of the Manteca community.

The new policy eliminates municipal flagpoles from becoming a lightning rod for community divisiveness the exact opposite of what the city was trying to do.

It goes without saying, a future council could again modify the city’s flag policy.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com

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