Next Tuesday, the Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners plan to vote to send a letter to the governor and state lawmakers opposing the new Minnesota state flag.
The highly publicized process to create a new state seal and flag was completed earlier this month but not everyone is happy with the design of the flag.
"I think it's a great idea to do a resolution that probably doesn't mean anything," said Crow Wing County Commission Chair Paul Koering who brought up the issue at a meeting earlier this week.
Koering and other commissioners are calling this a symbolic resolution. It's not expected to affect the flag's adoption, which happens in May.
"At least the county board could express their displeasure with this to the governor and the legislative leaders, and also our legislative delegation," Koering explained.
There were many who said the current state seal, which is part of the current state flag, has racist images, especially towards Native Americans. The designers also worked to simplify the design. The old flag with a busy logo in the middle doesn't make it easy to identify, looked too much like other flags, wasn't "memorable," and didn't meet the expert specifications for what a "good flag design" should look like.
Koering says he's heard from people in the county and other commissioners who'd rather keep the current state flag anyway. He says changing the flag and state seal because someone is offended is "whitewashing our history".
There is also a new state seal which is blue and bronze, with an image of a loon taking flight from a lake.
The new flag features a blue abstract shape of Minnesota with a white eight-pointed star in the middle, and the rest of the flag is a solid lighter color blue. The star, with its eight points, is similar to a compass pointing north representing Minnesota as the north star state. The blue represents the state's greatest natural resource, water.
The commission has gotten positive feedback from flag experts on the simplicity and look of their chosen design.