Milwaukee flag search might be headed for do-over

“You can’t move forward with something that’s supposed to be a symbol of unity until you have unity, so hopefully we have a process that achieves unity.” Nik Kovac Milwaukee alderman

The search for a new official flag for the City of Milwaukee may be headed back to the drawing board.

Rather than taking steps to make the “People’s Flag of Milwaukee” the official city flag, members of a Common Council committee on Thursday decided instead to huddle with Milwaukee City Clerk Jim Owczarski to come up with a new game plan.

That means Owczarski may be tasked with the job of launching a new process to find a city flag, as recommended in a recent report from the Milwaukee Arts Board. But first he will discuss the flags plan with Alds. Nik Kovac, Khalif Rainey and Mark Borkowski as part of an information committee created by Council President Ashanti Hamilton.

“You can’t move forward with something that’s supposed to be a symbol of unity until you have unity, so hopefully we have a process that achieves unity,” Kovac said after the meeting.

Borkowski pushed his fellow aldermen to set up a timeline for the search, in part to assure people progress was being made.

“I think a lot of work has been done by many, many people,” Borkowski said. “In fairness, let’s have a decision by such-and-such a time.”

But Kovac stressed the importance of doing the search right.

“If we do it right, it’s a multigenerational decision,” he said.

Kovac added that he didn’t “want to delay for delay’s sake.”

Thursday’s meeting was the latest in the seemingly never-ending debate over the city flag.

A local graphic designer, Steve Kodis, began his mission to create a new flag for the city in 2015. He launched a website chronicling the movement and teamed up with Ken Hanson, the executive director of Greater Together, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting racial and economic equality.

Hanson on Thursday defended the People’s Flag process, which involved a citywide design contest, saying the search received extensive media coverage. Some aldermen have backed making the People’s Flag the official flag.

“I think this is an opportunity for us to be in sync with what the people want,” Rainey said.

If that flag is eventually approved by the full council and Mayor Tom Barrett, the People’s Flag would replace the current flag that has flown for more than six decades.

The People’s Flag, a design known as “Sunrise Over the Lake” by Robert Lenz, won the 2016 contest and has since become ubiquitous around the city — appearing on bicycles, beer cans and bottles, Koss headphones, cars and Milwaukee Brewers baseball caps.

Supporters of the People’s Flag gathered again at City Hall for Thursday’s Steering and Rules Committee meeting, including a group of third-graders from Milwaukee College Prep.

Also on Thursday, city officials also debated changing how Milwaukee handles closing city offices due to weather.

The city currently requires employees to use vacation time or go unpaid when their offices close, under a policy that has been in place since 1989. Council members raised concerns about the policy after hearing from city workers unhappy about it.