An effort to erect flagpoles in a new location outside of Barrington Town Hall and remove any outside flags from flying above the veterans memorial failed to garner enough Town Council support on Monday night, April 1. 

Barrington Town Council President Carl Kustell and Vice President Rob Humm voted to approve the motion, while Councilors Annelise Conway and Braxton Cloutier voted against it. 

However, Council members plan to revisit the item at a future meeting when all five members are present. (Kate Berard was not at Monday’s meeting.)

Councilors spent some time during Monday night’s meeting discussing issues that involve the Barrington United Veterans Council. 

All the members of the BUVC recently resigned in protest over the fact that the Council continues to allow certain flags to fly above the veterans memorial outside of Barrington Town Hall. 

In a recent letter, the BUVC members wrote: “Unfortunately, the Barrington Town Council, which does not have a single veteran among its members, has chosen to virtue signal to controversial national political entities outside of our community rather than respect the wishes of those that have served and sacrificed from within the community.”

Following the resignations of the BUVC members, town officials have been trying to figure out how to address the tasks that the veterans group had handled, including the organization of the annual Memorial Day Parade. (The Council recently approved a $5,000 expenditure to hire an event planner to help with that task.)

But the flagpole remains a sticking point. 

Kustell said the town can honor the wishes of the veterans in town and still reach out to people in marginalized communities through flags and banners. He offered his compromise: Erect three new flagpoles at the top of the lawn in front of the Barrington Town Hall. Those flagpoles will play host to the US Flag (in the center) and the town and state flags (on the sides). When there is a banner that the Council wants to fly — for example, the Pride flag during Pride month — officials could replace the town flag with that banner.

A handful of residents spoke in support of Kustell’s compromise. Allan Klepper, a longtime Barrington resident and a veteran, said the compromise would allow the town to honor the veterans memorial and also honor any other groups they feel deserve it.

Lisa Daft said the current Council needs to deal with the fallout from the decision of a previous Council. She said that to find a solution, Council members needed to put their feelings aside, hear what people are saying and find a compromise. 

Deb Nyser is the mother of a combat veteran and said she hopes the Council will put up the new flagpoles. She said the Council could put whatever banners they wanted to on the new flagpole, but they should be sensitive to others in the community. She was referencing a social medial post by BLM regarding the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Let’s start being respectful, and somebody needs to apologize to these veterans,” she said. 

Ann Strong endorsed the compromise also, as did Jarrod Ryan.

Liana Cassar, a former State Representative, said she has many veterans in her family and believes there was some revisionist history taking place when it comes to veterans and veterans history. Cassar read a statement about how Black veterans have been treated badly in the past, and said flying the BLM flag on the pole at the veterans memorial can address that history. 

Kustell said he wanted to avoid discussing the substance of certain flags. He repeated the intent of his proposed compromise. 

He later made a motion to develop a conceptual plan for the new flagpoles and public gathering space on the town hall lawn. He said the plan would be subject to the approval of a yet-to-be-formed veterans committee. Humm seconded the motion, but it failed to pass with the 2-2 vote. Conway said she wanted to hear from the new veterans committee before voting to approve. Cloutier did not offer any comments on that topic.

The town wants you

Councilors agreed to put out a call to the community for any veterans interested in supporting the organization of the Memorial Day parade and assisting with other veterans issues. 

Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey had some concerns about moving forward right now with the new veterans committee, as he had a few logistical questions about how it would be organized and function.

Councilors said the bylaws of the BUVC would address those concerns. Council members said they did not want to have the committee be Council-appointed.