Resolution No. 6488RESOLUTION NO. 6488
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS,
CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING A POLICY REGARDING
INVOCATIONS AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS
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WHEREAS, the City Council is an elected legislative and deliberative public body, serving the
citizens of the City of Cypress ( "City "); and
WHEREAS, legislative bodies in America have long maintained a tradition of solemnizing
proceedings by allowing for an opening prayer before each meeting; and
WHEREAS, in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), the United States Supreme Court, in
reviewing and ultimately rejecting a challenge to daily prayers in the Nebraska State legislature by a
state - employed chaplain, recognized the tradition of legislative prayer, stating, "[t]he opening of sessions
of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and
tradition of this country." Id. at 786; and
WHEREAS, the Marsh Court noted that, the Continental Congress began each of its sessions
with an invocation delivered by a paid chaplain and, additionally, the First Congress, in one of its first
official acts, arranged for daily chaplain -led prayer in both chambers. Id. at 788. From this, the U.S.
Supreme Court inferred that "the men who wrote the First Amendment Religion Clause did not view paid
legislative chaplains and opening prayers as a violation of that Amendment, for the practice of opening
sessions with prayer has continued without interruption ever since that early session of Congress." Id. at
789; and
WHEREAS, in the recent Ninth District Court of Appeals decision in Rubin v. City of Lancaster,
710 F.3d 1087 (2013), the court held the invocation policy of the City of Lancaster to be lawful upon
review of the Marsh decision and finding that the City of Lancaster had a neutral process for selecting the
invocation speakers and the city's policy went to great lengths to ensure the city did nothing to put its
seal of approval on any particular religion or faith, and there was no evidence that a public official or city
representative had interfered with the city's invocation policy to advance a particular religion; and
WHEREAS, the City Council now desires to adopt a formal written policy to establish rules to
allow invocations at City Council meetings, which ensure that (i) the selection of those individuals who
give the invocation is neutral, (ii) the invocations are not used by the City to proselytize or advance any
one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief, and (iii) an individual's rights to free speech under the First
Amendment are protected.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Cypress, California, as
follows:
SECTION 1. That the Policy attached hereto as Exhibit A, and incorporated herein by this
reference, as if fully set forth, entitled "City Council Invocation Policy" is approved.
SECTION 2. Effective Date. This resolution shall be effective immediately upon adoption.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Cypress, at a regular meeting held on
the 12th day of January, 2015.
ATTEST:
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CITY CLERK OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS
MAYOR 0
E CITY OF CYPRESS
I, DENISE BASHAM, City Clerk of the City of Cypress, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing
Resolution was duly adopted at a regular meeting of the said City Council held on the 12th day of
January, 2015, by the following roll call vote:
AYES: 4 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Berry, Morales, Peat, and Johnson
NOES: 1 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Yarc
ABSENT: 0 COUNCIL MEMBERS: None
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CITY CLERK OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS
CITY OF CYPRESS
CITY COUNCIL INVOCATION POLICY
I. PURPOSE
EXHIBIT A 284
This policy is intended to allow for invocations to be offered at City Council meetings for the
benefit of the City and the community. This policy is not intended, and shall not be implemented or
construed in any way, to affiliate the City Council with, nor express the City Council's preference
for, any faith or religious denomination or lack thereof. Rather, this policy is intended to
acknowledge and express the City Council's respect for the diversity of religious denominations and
faiths represented and practiced among the citizens of the City of Cypress.
II. SCOPE
This policy is applicable to the conduct and proceedings at City Council meetings or any of
its subordinate bodies of which members of the City Council are represented. This policy does not
authorize or allow invocations or prayers at any other public or non - public meetings of the City,
including but not limited to, any meeting by City boards, commissions, committees or meetings by
City officers or staff.
III. POLICY
In order to solemnize the proceedings of the City Council, it is the policy of the City Council
to allow for an invocation or prayer to be offered at its meetings for the benefit of the City Council
and the community subject to the following requirements and limitations:
A. Agenda Title and Content.
The invocation shall be listed on the Agenda along with the following notice:
The City Council does not endorse the content of the invocation and does not
endorse the invocational speaker's particular faith, belief and/or religious
denomination. The City Council does not engage in any prior inquiry, review
of or involvement in, the content of the invocation, except to request the
speaker to refrain from using the invocation as an opportunity to attempt to
convert others to a particular faith or to disparage any faith or belief. The
City Council has an established neutral policy for selecting and scheduling
invocational speakers. The City Clerk will make the Council's policy on
invocations available upon request for public inspection and copying.
B. Invocation Participation is Voluntary.
No member of the City Council or City employee or any other person in attendance at a City
Council meeting shall be required to participate in any prayer or invocation that is offered.
C. Selection and Scheduling of Invocational Speakers.
The invocation shall be voluntarily delivered by an eligible member of the clergy or a
religious leader in the City. To ensure that such person ( "the invocational speaker ") is selected from
among a wide pool of the city's clergy /religious leaders, the invocational speaker shall be selected
and scheduled to speak according to the following procedure:
1. City Clerk's Responsibilities. The City Clerk shall compile and maintain a database
(the "Congregations List ") of the religious congregations with an established presence in the
City.
2. Compilation of Congregations List. The Congregations List shall be compiled by
referencing the listing for "churches," "congregations," or other religious assemblies in the
annual Yellow Pages phone book(s) published for the City, research from the internet (for
example but without limitation, searching for any local church, synagogue, temple, chapel or
mosque) and consultation with local chambers of commerce. All religious congregations with
an established presence in the City shall be eligible to be included in the Congregations List,
and any such congregation can confirm its inclusion by specific written request to the City
Clerk.
3. Annual Update of List. The Congregations List shall be updated, by reasonable
efforts of the City Clerk on an annual basis. However, as provided in section 2, above, any
eligible congregation or chaplain may be added to the list at any time by written request to
the City Clerk.
4. Invitations Mailed Annually. Within forty -five (45) days of the effective date of this
policy, and periodically thereafter and as needed, the City Clerk shall mail an invitation
addressed to the "religious leader" of each congregation listed on the Congregations List, as
well as to the individual chaplains included on the Congregations List.
5. Content of Invitation. The invitation shall be dated at the top of the page, signed by
the Mayor at the bottom of the page, and read as follows:
Dear religious leader:
The City Council makes it a policy to invite religious leaders in the City of
Cypress to voluntarily offer a prayer or invocation before the beginning of its
meetings, for the benefit and blessing of the City Council. As the leader of
one of the religious congregations with an established presence in the City, or
in your capacity as a chaplain that works for an agency or organization that
provides service to the public, you are eligible to offer this important service
at an upcoming meeting of the City Council.
If you are willing to assist the City Council in this regard, please send a
written reply at your earliest convenience to the City Clerk at the address
included on this letterhead. Invocation speakers are scheduled on a first -
come, first -serve or other random basis. The dates of the City Council's
scheduled meetings for the upcoming year are listed on the following,
attached page. If you have a preference among the dates, please state that
request in your written reply.
This opportunity is voluntary, and you are free to offer the invocation
according to the dictates of your own conscience. To maintain a spirit of
respect and ecumenism, the City Council requests only that the prayer or
invocation opportunity not be exploited as an effort to convert others to the
particular faith of the invocational speaker, nor to disparage any faith or
belief different from that of the invocational speaker.
On behalf of the City Council, I thank you in advance for considering this
invitation.
Sincerely,
Mayor
6. Scheduling Speakers. Invocational speakers shall be scheduled on a first -come, first -
serve basis or other random basis. Speakers are not required to have received the letter
described in section 5, above, to be scheduled to speak so long as they are a member of the
clergy or a religious leader of an organization or congregation on the Congregations List.
7. Volunteers in Event Speaker Does Not Show. If the selected invocational speaker
does not appear at the scheduled meeting, the Mayor may ask for a volunteer from among the
Council or the audience to deliver the invocation or simply invite a moment of silence as the
Mayor deems appropriate.
8. Limit on Same Speaker. The City Clerk shall make every reasonable effort to
ensure that a variety of eligible invocational speakers are scheduled for the City Council
meetings. In any event, no invocational speaker shall be scheduled to offer an invocation at
consecutive meetings of the City Council, or at more than three (3) City Council meetings in
any calendar year.
D. No Compensation for Speakers.
No invocational speaker shall receive compensation for his or her service in performing the
invocation.
E. No Involvement by City in Content of Invocation.
Neither the City Council nor the City Clerk shall engage in any prior inquiry, review of, or
involvement in, the content of any prayer to be offered by an invocational speaker.
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