ERIN – Requests to fly special flags at Erin’s town hall no longer have to go through council.
At a Thursday afternoon meeting, Erin council approved an updated flag flying policy giving authority for approving special event flag requests to the CAO or another designated staff member.
Jim Sawkins, fire chief who was the interim CAO at the time the report was written, told Erin council since the original flag flying policy was enacted in 2019, numerous requests from groups to fly special flags such as the Pride flag or most recently a delegation by a community member to fly the Irish flag for Irish Heritage Month in March.
The policy did not identify any process for this.
“So each and every time someone requested to raise a flag it needed to come before council which takes up valuable council time,” Sawkins said.
To accommodate this, Sawkins proposed a change to the policy giving authority to the CAO to approve these flags rather than council. These special event flags would fly for no longer than one week.
Council unanimously approved the policy. Mayor Michael Dehn said this policy would be used first following the meeting when the town raises the Irish flag for Irish Heritage Month.