The Nowthen City Council voted 3-2 Feb. 10 to continue flying the current Minnesota state flag, rejecting a motion by Council Member Ken Glaser to remove both the current and former versions from city property.
Mayor Shane Hybben and Council Members Mary Rainville and Dan Swenson voted against the motion.
Glaser, who previously raised the issue in November 2025, argued the redesign process was partisan and said the city should not fly a state flag unless a bipartisan process produced a new design.
“Over 70% of Nowthen voters from both precincts did not get representation in the redesign of their state flag,” Glaser said.
He said the issue has become political and that city government is intended to be nonpartisan. He added that many Minnesotans are dissatisfied with both the new design and the process used to adopt it.
Swenson said removing the flag would itself be a partisan act.
“It is the Minnesota state flag,” Swenson said. “You leave the Minnesota state flag up on the flag pole… I would feel, you know, if we pull that down, what’s to stop us from having some Trump hater say take down the American flag, or put up, you know, a Confederate flag or put up a rainbow flag?”
Rainville said she identifies as a Democrat and has political views that do not always align with many conservative residents but said she does not let that influence her decisions on the council.
“I’m a Democrat — I was born and raised a Democrat,” Rainville said, adding that voters have continued to elect her because they separate personal politics from local governance.
Council Member Dan Breyen said he had read about a Rochester flag maker who reported customers buying new flags as an act of protest or defiance.
“I do not want the city of Nowthen to be represented as protest and defiance,” Breyen said, adding that tradition alone was not a sufficient reason to continue flying the flag.
Hybben said he personally disagreed with how the redesign process unfolded and would have preferred a statewide vote but said the council’s role was not to weigh in on that debate.
“Part of being nonpartisan is not worrying about any of that,” Hybben said.