County says new flag issue is not in its ‘wheelhouse’
New state flag becomes official May 11.
At the start of each Swift County Board of Commissioners meeting, there is a time set aside for citizens who want to address commissioners on any topic of concern.
Dean Rood of Hayes Township took advantage of that opportunity at the county board’s Feb. 6 meeting to ask commissioners to lodge a formal protest to the state’s new flag.
“I say we should be voting on it, instead of just pushing it on us,” Rood told commissioners. “They have different ones. The new one is kind of plain. The old one has some nice colors in it. That is what I was after - have us vote on it now instead of just throwing it at us.”
Rood’s timing was good in approaching the commissioners on the flag topic. It was on their agenda.
“After our last meeting, Mr. Rood came to me and asked if we had an official request yet to oppose the state flag,” Commission Chair Pete Peterson, District 3-south Benson and Torning Township, said. “I said we didn’t, and he indicated that he wished we would.”
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