Howard County residents had a ton of ideas for a new county flag. Now they can vote on their favorite options from a narrowed down list of 10 flag designs for a chance to see it flying on a flagpole — hopefully — by the end of next year.
The Howard County flag commission opened a virtual poll this week where the public can rank their favorite flag designs from one to 10, with one being their favorite. Participants can only submit their rankings once. The poll is open until midnight on Jan. 12.
Coleen West, chair of the flag commission, said the group is looking forward to seeing the public vote after they narrowed down the 184 eligible flag designs to 10.
“It’s going to be the county flag,” she said. “It’s going to represent our community, and so we really do want people to vote on their favorites.”
West said all the designs are strong but different from each other. In terms of subject matter, she said a sheaf of wheat is a recurring image in several of the designs, as well as some similar color palettes.
But how did the 19-member commission narrow down the 184 flag designs that residents submitted? Well, West laughed and said it was quite the process.
In August, the commission shared the designs that more than 100 people submitted after County Executive Calvin Ball announced in January it was time for a new flag. The current flag was designed in 1968. Ball said because the once-rural county has changed so much, he wanted to see the county flag align better with modern-day values.
At the end of September, the commission hosted a public hearing, where about a dozen people commented on their favorite flags, as well as their least favorites. Taking into account comments from the public, West said the flag commission then met two times for two hours at each meeting in October.
“The first session was really exciting and a bit daunting, because we had 184 designs that were installed salon-style throughout the space that we were in,” West said. “And it was also a bit overwhelming.”
She said using a process from Ted Kaye — the author of “Good Flag, Bad Flag: How to Design a Great Flag” — that is based on conversation, collaboration, consensus building and refinement, the commission was able to narrow down the designs to 31 options in that first meeting.
“We then kept going through that process until we narrowed it down to the 10,” she said.
After the public votes, the top five most popular designs will go back to the commission for them to choose three finalists, according to a press release. The three design finalists will each receive an honorarium of $1,000 for their work.
Those three will be presented to Ball for him to vote on a final design, which will then go to the County Council for legislative approval.
West said the process was rewarding and exciting. “I’m working with a great group of commissioners, so they’re very thoughtful, and they’re taking this very seriously. So we were thrilled at the number that we received, and now we’re thrilled with our final 10 designs.”
The poll is open to residents of Howard County, and it requires an online services account to vote.
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