In the interest of changing what he sees as “a gross overreach of local government,” Morro Bay City Councilmember Jeff Eckles is leading the effort to restrict what flags the city can fly over its government buildings.
“When we choose to fly one group’s flag over another’s, we are inevitably excluding some members of our community. That’s not the role of government. We are here to represent everybody,” Eckles said at the April 22 City Council meeting. “The city’s flagpole should stand for all citizens and not be used to make political or cultural statements that divide the city.”
Eckles didn’t mention any specific flags by name as causing division, but he did ask for the city to revamp the flagpole policy it enacted in November 2022, which allows the city to fly commemorative flags and enabled the city to pass a resolution approving the Pride flag to fly at City Hall throughout June for Pride Month.
During the April 22 meeting, Councilmember Cyndee Edwards said she didn’t want the decision made that night to make people in the community feel like the city didn’t support them.
“They are brothers, they are sisters, they are community owners, they are friends, they are business owners in our community,” Edwards said. “I do know that the flag that was mentioned in the policy we may be amending tonight is the rainbow flag. … It wouldn’t be going up in June.”
She said she felt better after Eckles explained his reasoning behind the push.
“It is indeed not about the flag,” Edwards said. “It is just about the acknowledgement of everyone.”
The council unanimously directed staff to come back with a flagpole policy that only allows the city to fly the American flag, the city flag, and the state flag. Those flags represent everyone in Morro Bay, Eckles said, calling them “neutral and unifying.”
“These are the symbols that bind us together,” he said.
Public commenters supported the decision. Nick DeAngelis, who spoke over Zoom, called the 2022 flagpole policy very broad and very specific.
“I don’t think that a community like this should lend ourselves out to everything that anybody has to say,” he told council members. “I would prefer that we just get back to what the flagpole is supposed to be.”
Judy Setting said she was sad that she needed to speak on the issue at all but added that she wants everybody to understand that the city needs to represent everyone.
“When we have an ordinance to allow anybody to apply to raise their flag, it gets complicated,” she said.
Staff will bring back the policy at a future meeting. Ī
This article appears in Best of SLO County 2025.