Battle Ground City Council approves public invocations at future meetings

Citizens packed Battle Ground City Council chambers during a public comment period that lasted an hour as many residents spoke against adding invocations to future regular council meetings on Monday, Aug. 3. Photo courtesy Cade Barker/The Reflector Newspaper

🎧 Battle Ground Council Votes 5-1 to Allow Public Invocations

During a contentious Battle Ground City Council meeting on Aug. 3, councilors voted 5-1 to approve public invocations to begin future meetings

Cade Barker
The Reflector Newspaper

Battle Ground Mayor Eric Overholser said the city’s newly adopted invocation policy is designed to provide an open and transparent process that allows anyone to participate, regardless of religious background.

During a contentious Battle Ground City Council meeting on Monday, Aug. 3, councilors voted 5-1 to approve public invocations to begin future meetings. Resolution 26-04 allows up to three-minute invocations prior to regular council meetings, as well as a moment of silence being an option.

Councilor Jeanie Kuypers was the lone “no” vote, with councilor Shane Bowman not present.

Area activist Fia Marie, left, responds to a counterprotester who singled out Marie while they were away from a crowd of a few dozen protesters who were against adding invocations to future regular council meetings on Monday, Aug. 3. Photo courtesy Cade Barker/The Reflector Newspaper

“There’s nothing more that I would like to do than to stand together in unity and to share a time of prayer for our residents, our city and our council,” Kuypers said. “And I also respect the differences of faith that are among us and within our city. Unfortunately, in the current environment, I’m more concerned about invocation becoming a lightning rod for more controversy and for social media distractions.”

The resolution agenda item states the opportunity to provide invocation must be open to all faiths or “lack thereof.” As of press time, the completed Resolution 26-04 was not available on the city of Battle Ground website.

Opponents of the resolution stated that invocations could hurt those with different beliefs and narrow the separation of church and state.

Protesters and counterprotesters stand toe-to-toe in front of Battle Ground City Hall ahead of a city council meeting where invocations were approved by councilors with a 5-1 vote on Monday, Aug. 3. Photo courtesy Cade Barker/The Reflector Newspaper

Supporters of the resolution said it honors a long-standing tradition — mainly in regards to congressional invocation, which is a brief prayer or opening reflection delivered at the start of each legislative day in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Congressional invocations began in 1774.

Locally, the councils of Clark County and Washougal have had invocations for a long time.

Responding to concerns raised by residents about whether the city would be selecting certain denominations over others, Overholser told The Reflector the process is intended to be open to all applicants.

Battle Ground Police personnel and Deputy Mayor Aimee Vaile watch a crowd of protesters from within city hall on Monday, Aug. 3. Photo courtesy Cade Barker/The Reflector Newspaper

“That is 100 percent correct,” Overholser said. “We’re working through the process now, but I think it was outlined in the resolution that there will be a process. It’s a first-come, first-served. It’s open to all. It’s an open enrollment, and so you can do it once a year. Whoever is led to sign up can sign up. There is literally no filter of anything, and we wanted to purposefully have that, like no barrier, lower the barriers to allow whoever wants to bring an invocation to bring an invocation.”

Overholser said he views an invocation as an opportunity for reflection and encouragement before city business begins.

“I think the idea of invocation is to have a moment of reflection, a moment of wisdom, encouragement for the proceedings,” he said. “I think that can come from anybody.”

A sketch artist draws one of the counterprotesters outside of Battle Ground City Hall ahead of a city council meeting where invocations were approved by councilors with a 5-1 vote on Monday, Aug. 3. Photo courtesy Cade Barker/The Reflector Newspaper

Addressing criticism of the policy, Overholser said he believes many concerns stem from uncertainty and encouraged residents to review the city’s adopted resolution and observe the process as it is implemented.

“I think that people have concerns about unknowns, and it’s OK to voice those concerns, but hopefully they will seek the understanding and the answers that they’re looking for,” he said. “I was hoping the resolution document as itself, I think, is a very good place to seek that truth and then living it out and going through that process with transparency (and) accountability.”

Overholser also said he preferred an application process that would not rely on a single individual, instead allowing submissions to go directly to city staff and be scheduled in the order they are received.

“My goal is an open platform where you fill out the application, you hit submit and it goes to staff, period,” he said, adding that the city’s approximately 22 annual council meetings could be filled on a first-come, first-served basis if there are enough applicants.

This report was first published by The Reflector Newspaper. Cade Barker can be reached at cade.barker@thereflector.com.