ROCKLAND – At its March 13 meeting, the Rockland City Council passed in a 3-1 vote to approve Resolve 11, the Commitment to Promoting Open, Respectful Healthy Community. The resolve had seen the community in Rockland and surrounding towns turn out to show support for the resolve. At both its agenda-setting meeting on March 6 and at the Council’s March 13 meeting, a large crowd filled the meeting space.

Councilor Ed Glaser, sponsor of the resolve, said following the meeting that he was pleased.

"I'm pleased that the resolve passed, though ‘elated’ might be too strong a term,” he said. “Elated might apply if it was unanimous. That lack of unanimity speaks to the fact that the community isn't unanimously behind the resolution. Certainly a majority is, and that's a good thing."

Glaser said the stated goals are reflected in the actions of the school district and many churches and organizations around town.

He said: "One of the arguments against the resolve is 'why pass this resolve when there are so many more important things to do.' I'll argue that there's little more important than human rights and the need to treat everyone with dignity, respect and kindness."

Glaser continued: "There are many other things that we need to tackle, and that's why I'm not elated. There's a lot more work we need to do. We have big issues that we may only be able to nibble away at — addiction, homelessness, affordable housing, good paying jobs, high taxes, educational opportunities and on and on. It is a milestone, and I'm happy it passed, but it is just one stop on the road, we need to keep moving ahead, let's see where we can go."

Rockland Mayor Will Clayton was the one dissenting vote against the resolve. He said his concerns with the resolve clarity and clarification.

"My concerns with the Resolve are the same as they have been from the beginning,” he said, following the March 13 meeting. “The lack of clarity on some of the terminology mentioned in the Resolve including scapegoating, criminalization of addiction and immigration status."

Clayton had said before that he will not support providing city services to individuals who are not actively taking the steps necessary to becoming a U.S. citizen.

"I had asked that these particular items be addressed with a fuller description so I could get behind them,” he said. “I met with many individuals to discuss the Resolve and my reservations along with others that had reached out to me. The democratic process culminated in a vote last night where I was the minority vote. And that process is what is great about where we live today. If I can ask one thing it is that any person wishing to hear my reasoning for voting against the Resolve please reach out to me directly. There are large discrepancies in my reasoning from what I have been reading and hearing."

In other business the council voted 4-0 to rename the Rockland Community Building to the Flanagan Community Center.

Passage now clears the way for Heidi Vanorse-Neal, Susan Ware Page, Tom Malloy and Steven Durell to start work on the building signage.

Susan Ware-Page said they were looking for a concept that was attractive to the city.

"We wanted something that would be no maintenance to the city," she said. "And we wanted to raise the money to pay for this ourselves. We don't want it to be any cost to the city. The Flanagan family has approved the sign and if we get approval we want to move forward to raise the money and handle the installation."

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Rockland debates its open, healthy community resolve