Avon will fly only U.S., Colorado flags

In November, the Avon Town Council caused controversy when it decided not to consider voting on whether to fly the Israeli flag to show support for Israel during the ongoing Israel-hamas war.

Last week, the council changed its position, which was formerly to allow the use of Avon’s flagpoles for the display of government speech.

Going forward, Avon will exclusively fly the flags of the United States, the state of Colorado and the town of Avon.

Over the past three years, Avon has displayed two flags outside of the three government flags.

During the initial discussion on Nov. 14, members of the council were split on the appropriate use of Avon’s flagpoles. In the following months, town staffers, particularly town lawyer Nina Williams and her associates, researched the First Amendment, the 2022 Supreme Court case about government speech on flagpoles and various municipalities’ policies across the state to provide options for the council to make an informed decision.

Two options for use of Avon’s flagpoles were proposed at the meeting. Option one was to use Avon’s flagpoles only to fly the U.S. flag, Colorado flag and Avon flag.

Option two was for the council to have the ability to use the town’s flagpoles as government speech, not a public forum, where, by voting on a resolution, the council could choose to fly a flag to make a statement representing the town.

Town Manager Eric Heil recommended the council choose option one.

“As much as I find regional, national, international issues interesting, we’ve got enough to keep us busy, plenty busy, right here in Avon and right around Avon,” Heil said.

The seven members of the Town Council quickly agreed with Heil.

Council member R.J. Andrade said he had been advocating for the limited display of the three government flags since the initial decision to fly the Pride flag to avoid “awkward situations” such as what occurred over the Israeli flag.

Of the controversy surrounding the council’s decision not to vote on flying the Israeli flag, council member Ruth Stanley said, “it wreaked havoc in our community.”

Members of the community attended the meeting to express their opinions on the flag policy the council should select.

“I understand the good intentions behind the current flag policy, but I think this will keep unnecessary and irrelevant debate out of the Town Council chambers and allow for the town to focus on serving its constituents more effectively,” said Seth Levy, Gypsum resident and board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council.“we are 100% behind number one,” said Rabbi Joel Newman of the B’nai Vail Congregation.