CRESTVIEW — The City Council unanimously passed without discussion a revision to its Rules of Procedure.
The revision limits clergy seeking to offer the invocation before council meetings to those of “religious congregations with an established presence within the jurisdictional limits of the city of Crestview and within five miles of the city limits.”
Councilman JB Whitten, who spearheaded the change, said he was motivated to do so after noticing in the News Bulletin’s church listings that there are almost 100 churches in the Crestview area.
“The way the ordinance was previously written was it was open to everyone in Okaloosa County,” Whitten said. “We thought, ‘We don’t want everyone in Okaloosa County.’ We have about 95 religious organizations within shouting distance of Crestview. If we just keep it local, it keeps the focus on Crestview.”
Whitten said the rules were previously revised about a year ago on the advice of then-city attorney Jerry Miller, who recommended the council abandon its practice of having a council member offer the opening invocation.
“I had concerns then because I thought we were fixing something that wasn’t broken,” Whitten said. “I voted against it because I didn’t see any need to make changes to begin with.”
Whitten said he suggested the current revisions in consultation with city attorney Ben Holley “to make sure everything we were doing was kosher.”
“We concentrated on making it so all the religious organizations in Crestview and nearby could be on the list,” Whitten said.
“We’re just tweaking it. It sailed through real smoothly.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Invocation revision limits clergy to Crestview area