Prayer replaced with moment of silence in Sandy City Council meeting, not permanent

When the prayer was replaced with a moment of silence during the Sandy City Council’s meeting on Jan. 21, the vocal public didn’t respond well.

Sandy City Council Chair and At-Large Councilmember Aaron Dekeyzer called for the moment of silence instead of the usual prayer as part of the customary opening ceremony before The Pledge of Allegiance on the same week President Donald Trump was inaugurated.

“In lieu of a prayer tonight, I felt it would be appropriate to have a moment of silence,” he said at the beginning of the council meeting. “For the public to know, becoming an elected official really changes one's perspective, as you now have a duty to your constituents, so I think about things differently. 

“I wanted to acknowledge the troubling state of our nation and the effects that it will have on our community. The multitude of decisions made just yesterday at the highest level of our government have stirred deep emotions and concern among members of our community and many of us, and so I would like you to join me in a moment of silence to reflect on the gravity of the situation, the responsibility that we bear as public servants and the need for unity in action in the face of these challenges.”

Several comments during public discussion criticized the change including resident Craig Ulrich who called it an “affront” to residents when the prayer was not given, noting it is a “time-honored tradition” of the city and nation.

“Yesterday in the Capitol Rotunda, five prayers were offered which recognizes God’s guidance in our behalf,” Ulrich said. “This morning as the Utah legislature began they started with a prayer asking for the Almighty’s guidance.”

Fellow Sandy Councilmember Marci Houseman addressed the occurrence during her usual report to the other councilmembers.

“My hope is today’s deviation from starting our meeting with prayer in order to hold a moment of silence was simply an exception,” Houseman said. “If you are going to substitute a moment of silence for prayer, please do not politicize that moment of silence.”

Dekeyzer said his main point was to reflect on the duty public servants have to represent their constituents, not to dismiss the prayer.

“I didn’t want this to be an issue,” Dekeyzer said on the stand. “It’s pretty standard to substitute a prayer for a moment of silence.”

He was concerned several residents, who spoke out against this particular occurrence during the same January meeting and following meetings, had assumed the moment of silence was going to replace the prayer permanently, but that isn’t the case.

On the issue of including prayers in city council meetings as a whole, Sandy City Council’s executive director, Dustin Fratto, said it would be “impossible” to regulate what constitutes a prayer. We have to “open all the doors” or not at all, he said. In the past, poems, moments of silence or other similar expressions have replaced prayer in the city, a practice used across the county.

While Dekeyzer made it clear his moment of silence was not meant to be a version of a prayer, Fratto said it has been substituted for a prayer in past meetings as many as two to three times during the year.

A document shared with the City Journal by Sandy City Attorney Shane Pace explained prayer is allowed in government or political meetings but not mandated by the government.

“Court rulings clearly indicate that the practice of having a prayer at the beginning of a public government legislative meeting is permissible under the U.S. Constitution,” Pace wrote in the document. “However, it is also equally clear that the government cannot dictate the form or content of any prayer offered at such meetings.”

Among other cities that have a prayer as part of the opening portion of a city council meeting, replacing the opening prayer with something different isn’t an abnormal occurrence.

West Valley has been known to invite groups to city council meetings, especially former West Valley Councilmember Jake Fitisemanu (Democrat), who just joined the Utah House of Representatives representing District 30.

“During my time at the West Valley City Council, we always had an ‘opening ceremony’ for our weekly meetings, but it was not prescribed whether it needed to be a prayer and/or the pledge,” he wrote in an email to the City Journal. “When it was my turn to conduct the opening ceremony, I always invited West Valley City residents to offer opening remarks, a cultural protocol, or a prayer…because I wanted to intentionally highlight the diversity we have in our city.”

Fitisemanu said he often invited “pastors from local Protestant churches, monks from the Wat Lao Buddhist Temple, Native American spiritual leaders,” Polynesian students, boy and girl scouts, and even a Chinese dragon dance group to participate.

He felt these opening ceremony additions “honored the nature of the city council meeting and set the tone for the evening in a substantive, meaningful way, but wasn’t necessarily a religious prayer.”

“I am certainly not opposed to starting public meetings with a prayer, but I also think there are also other alternate gestures of respect and spirituality with similar significance and meaning,” he said.

Other city councils (including Midvale, West Jordan, Holladay, South Salt Lake, Cottonwood Heights and Draper) across Salt Lake County do not have a prayer as part of their opening ceremonies.

No current conversations are underway about discontinuing prayer in Sandy City’s meetings.