Hearing for county seal alteration bumped to February – williamsonherald.com

Nearly a year has passed since the Williamson County Board of Commissioners last voted to move forward in the process to alter the Williamson County seal, which contains a Confederate flag, but the community will have to wait until next year to know whether or not the flag could be removed, as the final hearing at the Tennessee Historical Commission has been delayed a second time to the state commissions February meeting.

This delay comes at the request of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Major Nathaniel Cheairs Camp 2138, which has petitioned to intervene in the matter before the commission. The group claimed that it needed more time for discovery before the commissions October meeting due to a planned medical procedure for its attorney.

Originally, the final hearing was scheduled for June but was delayed the first time on the request of Williamson Countys attorney due to a medical procedure.

Now, Tennessee Historical Commission will determine in February whether or not the county can alter its seal. While the commission typically would not have jurisdiction over a county seal, according to the county attorney, the Confederate flag in the upper-left quadrant of the seal is considered a public memorial that requires state approval for alteration. And that flag is at the center of this request for alteration.

In the summer of 2020, an online petition to remove the Confederate flag from the county seal, which now has over 11,500 signatures, along with a flood of emails from county residents directed the county commissions attention to the matter. After establishing a nine-member task force to determine whether or not there was substantial need to alter the seal, which unanimously recommended the removal of the flag, the county commission voted 16-7 to request of the Tennessee Historical Commission the seals alteration.

If approved by the state, the county would then have to vote on a final design for the seal.

However, the county and state commissions are not the only groups involved in the upcoming hearing. The Sons of Confederate Veterans camp has filed a petition to intervene, challenging the county task forces argument that leaving the seal unchanged could have negative economic impacts.

In its report, the task force shared that Mississippi faced negative economic impacts due to its refusal to alter its state flag, which formerly contained the Confederate flag, for so many years, noting that Williamson County could face similar consequences.

In working to create the kind of community where a talented workforce wants to live and work, it is important to ensure that anything that suggests that a community is not welcoming or inclusive is addressed, the report reads.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans camp contends that, despite the Confederate flags presence in the county seal, Williamson County is a leader in the state for economic growth.

This economic growth all occurred while the Williamson County Seal was bearing the Confederate Battle Flag, reads the camps petition to intervene. Many industries and employers have moved into Williamson County and the Seal has not prevented this record economic growth.

While the county seal certainly did not deter major companies like Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors USA and Mars Petcare from setting up camp in Williamson County, all three companies along with 13 others with local ties signed a letter to the county in support of the flags removal.

We do not believe this seal, created in 1968, represents who we are as a county today, the letter reads. This is a significant issue for our companies and employees who call Williamson County home. We believe the seal is long overdue for an update, and now is the time to take swift action to redesign the seal and remove the flag.

The Tennessee Historical Commission will vote on the matter during its next meeting on Feb. 18 at 9 a.m. For more information, visit http://www.TN.gov/historicalcommission.html.

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Hearing for county seal alteration bumped to February - williamsonherald.com