Akron Council stops prayer practice
By Maria Lindsay
DOWNTOWN AKRON — Akron City Council recited the Lord’s Prayer in public for the last time at the Oct. 15 meeting, in deference to the threat of a lawsuit over the use of sectarian rather than ecumenical language contained in the prayer.
Council was informed of the potential for a lawsuit in their practice of reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each meeting in a letter dated Sept. 28 by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C.-based group.
The letter stated: “Although
the U.S. Constitution does not bar the Council from
opening its session with prayer ... such prayers are
permissible only insofar as they are nonsectarian, in
other words, only if they do not use language or symbols
specific to one religion. By failing to do so [stop
reciting the Lord’s Prayer], Council would risk
subjecting the City to costly litigation.”
In the letter, legal counsel for
the group asked Akron City Council to respond to the
demand within 30 days, which is Oct. 26.
At the Oct. 15 meeting, Akron
City Council adjourned into executive session at the
start of the meeting and before the recitation of the
prayer to discuss “a pending lawsuit,” and
came out after one hour without making an announcement.
Council President Marco Sommerville (D-Ward 3) continued
the meeting by asking the group to stand for a “moment
of silence,” which was followed by a tepid rendition
of the Lord’s Prayer.
When contacted for comment the
next day, Sommerville said the Lord’s Prayer will
no longer be recited by Council.
“We have to [stop] legally,”
he said. He added Council hopes to adopt a nonsectarian
prayer in the future. “Most
of us want to do something,” he said. “Until
then, we will only have the Pledge [of Allegiance].”
Council also focused on money
matters in the meeting.
During the Budget and Finance
Committee meeting, Council members reviewed amendments
to the 2007 annual appropriations totaling almost $19
million and agreed to place it on the consent agenda
for the next meeting.
Council approved the following:
• almost $21 million in
annual bond issues that have been used to fund a variety
of improvement projects and will also pay for a $985,000
court judgment (U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Ohio, Eastern Division, Case No. 5: 02 CV
2047) against the city involving the alleged destruction
of public records;
• the advertisement for
bids and subsequent contracts
on a number of items for various city departments, including
an estimated $16 million for materials and services,
almost $9 million for supplies, repair parts and labor
for machinery and equipment; and the reconstruction
of existing sanitary sewers at six city locations;
• a contract with the Ohio
Department of Transportation to resurface and improve
Copley and Manchester roads, Maple Street and Glendale
Avenue;
• a five-year, 0 percent,
$60,000 loan agreement with Saalfield Properties Inc.,
which includes 33 businesses and about 300 employees
located on White Pond Drive, and the acquisition of
four properties for sewer and utility easements and
road improvement projects; and
• an amendment to an ordinance
passed in February allowing Spanky’s Outlet Inc.
to relocate to the 1559 S. Main St. property.
The next Council meeting is set
for Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. in Council chambers on the third
floor of the Municipal Building, 166 S. High Street.
Committee meetings begin at 2 p.m.
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