Milford’s official city flag was designed by Nolan Eickhoff as part of his Eagle Scout project.
Milford now has an official city flag as voted on by its residents.
Boy Scout Nolan Eickhoff designed the flag as part of his Eagle Scout project.
The Milford City Council approved Eickhoff’s project in July 2018, and Eickhoff asked for community input through a series of surveys.
Eickhoff offered the top three designs as voted on by residents, as well as alternatives with varying color schemes, at the council’s March 5 meeting.
Mayor Patrick Kelley, who originally offered to serve as a liaison to Eickhoff’s Eagle Scout committee, said he was now concerned about adopting an official flag because there would be no pole available to fly it on at the new municipal building, since a third flag pole (one for the American flag, one for the Nebraska flag and one for the city flag) was cut from the building project for budget reasons.
Last summer, the council agreed to pay for a flag to be made with the intent that it would fly over the municipal building.
Eickhoff presented five cost estimates ranging from $16 to $150.
Kelley said adopting an official city flag would be “opening up a can of worms for other people to want to create flags for us to display.”
Instead, Kelley suggested that once the flag was made, the mayor could create a proclamation honoring Eickhoff and his efforts.
“In that proclamation, we’d come up with a day where we could display it in a nice case inside the building or more appropriately on a pole,” Kelley said, asking if Eickhoff had a favorite day or if the Boy Scouts had a special day of the year so they could “display it for that day, but not officially (adopt) it as the official city flag.”
“I think that’s a lot of work for him to put in for just one day a year,” resident Kelli Keib said.
Council member Jason Stahl agreed with Keib.
“Why can’t we honor the people’s vote on this? They voted three times to do it. I understand, still give him credit for doing it once a year. The citizens thought this was going to be the official city flag,” Stahl said.
“That’s kind of how it’s been advertised,” Eickhoff said.
Stahl suggested it be flown on the same pole below the state flag and made a motion to adopt the design.
Council member Scott Bashore seconded the motion and the council voted 3-0 in favor. Council member Kelley Heser was absent, but she had voiced her support for the project at a previous meeting.
Keib asked how much it would cost to add a third flag pole to the building project and when the money would be needed, if someone were to initiate a fundraising project.
The cost is around $2,000, but the poles would not be lit, so the flags would have to be taken down each night. Lighting is an additional $8,000 for the three poles.
The council estimated the project would be complete in September or October, so the funds would be needed before then.
Keib has since worked with the city office to open an account at Farmers and Merchants Bank for flag pole donations.
As of March 29, a $500 donation had been made, with more to come from Cinderella’s Formal Gown Rental of Ralston, which donated a portion of proceeds from a March 30 prom attire pop-up store in Milford.
Donations for the pole may be taken to City Hall inside the Webermeier Building and must be marked “flag pole donation.”
The account will be open through July 31, with any funds beyond the $2,000 for the pole to go toward lighting.
