In 2020, as Black Lives Matter protests spread across the country in the wake of the murder by police of George Floyd, a monument to the Minneapolis man was quietly erected in an Ellsworth city park.
Now, more than five years later, Ellsworth officials have been asked how the memorial to Floyd got city approval.
Patrick Shea, who has served on Ellsworth’s City Council for a little over a month, asked city staff to review how the memorial to Floyd was erected in Knowlton Park. Shea said residents brought it to his attention and “took quite an issue with the monument,” but that he was more concerned that it had never been approved by the City Council.
“To me, it is not a question of the individual who is memorialized,” Shea told his fellow councilors Monday night. He said the council should decide what sort of monuments are erected on city property, and that there should be criteria that have to be met.
“Does it fit the overall generalized taste test, smell test?” Shea said.
City Manager Charles Pearce, who was hired by the city in 2024, gave a short presentation Monday on the Floyd memorial’s approval to the seven-member council, none of whom held their elected positions in 2020.
“The city has since received concerns regarding the political nature or appropriateness of the memorial, along with suggestions that the stone be removed,” Pearce wrote in a memo to the board.
He said the city has no ordinance for how memorial requests are approved, so legally they can be reviewed and approved by the city manager, without input from the council. In 2020, a private citizen approached the city and asked to have the memorial, which the citizen paid for in full, placed in Knowlton Park.
Pearce did not disclose the name of the person who made the request, or who was serving as city manager at the time.
David Cole retired as Ellsworth’s city manager in September 2020, after which Glenn Moshier was appointed as interim city manager prior to being named to the position on a long-term basis the following January.
Pearce assured the council Monday that he had no intention of authorizing either the installation or removal of any monument on city property without getting council direction. He also said that, going forward, he favors the city adopting a formal process by which the council decides whether to accept or remove any monuments offered to Ellsworth.
“At the time, all proper procedures were followed,” Pearce said. “It wasn’t required to come to council, but I see a better process in place for more council involvement.”
He added that it was the council that in 2022 approved a request from a high school student group to paint a downtown crosswalk in rainbow colors to show public support for the local LGBTQ+ community.
Shea said he was concerned that a group could also petition the city to remove a monument, such as the Civil War memorial at the intersection of routes 1 and 172 on Bridge Hill.
But Shea’s suggestion that the city come up with a litmus test for what sort of monuments would be appropriate received pushback from fellow City Councilor Carol Patterson-Martineau, who also was elected last month.
“This particular monument has nothing or little relevance to Ellsworth,” she said, referring to the Floyd monument. “It was a very tragic event. It has to do with the whole nation. I think it is a little tone deaf to not bring that into the equation.”
Shea countered by saying that, without approval criteria, the city could face any kind of subjective request, such as someone asking to erect a statue of their dog. Patterson-Martineau pressed him on that comment, asking if he was comparing George Floyd to his dog, but Shea insisted he wasn’t.
“No, I’m not. I don’t want to go there,” he said. “I could see a potential to all kinds of things going on. It’s not my place to pick [proposals] or anything.”
Patrick Lyons, the council chair, turned the discussion to a point of agreement, saying that all councilors seem to support having the city establish a formal council review process for future monument requests. The matter was not up for a council vote Monday, he noted, but likely would come back to the council for further discussion and a possible vote at a later date.
“I think we have a path forward on this issue,” Lyons said.