Pensacola City Council will decide on special meeting for Confederate monument

The Pensacola City Council will decide Thursday night whether to set a special meeting to hear from the public about removing the Confederate monument in Lee Square.

In the wake of violence at a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, over a Confederate monument in August, Mayor Ashton Hayward condemned white supremacist groups and said that if it was up to him, the monument in Pensacola would come down.

Under city policy, the Pensacola City Council controls the city's historic monuments.

Council President Brian Spencer announced in August the council would follow the city's policy and placed an item on the City Council's agenda for council members to discuss if they want to set a special meeting to hear from the public on the issue.

A public meeting on the historic monument in question would be the first step to consider any changes under the city's adopted policy.

More:Real history of how Pensacola's Confederate statue came to be

Spencer told the News Journal on Wednesday the actual merits of whether or not to remove the monument will not be discussed at the Thursday meeting.

"That would be completely out of order because it's not on the agenda," he said.

Spencer said he expected Thursday's meeting to be run like any regular City Council meeting.

Two members of the City Council have said they support the mayor's call for the monument to come down.

Spencer said he wanted to hear from the public before making any decision, but his views on the Confederate monument issue were similar to those laid out in a speech by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

More:Civil War historian: Time to move monuments

"For me, this expands the question from a simple 'Should we remove or not remove' to one where we must ask ourselves if we are proud or ashamed of our monuments that revere intolerable actions of our past," Spencer told the News Journal in August.

Online petitions calling for removing and for keeping the monument have gained thousands of signatures, and a raucous, but overall peaceful, protest and counter-protest was held Aug. 26 at the monument. Crowds from both sides exchanged jeers but also handshakes. Two people were arrested as the protest ended in the afternoon.

Spencer said he didn't believe any additional security precautions would be needed for the Thursday meeting. Members of the public who attend a City Council meeting must pass through a metal detector, and all bags are subject to a search from security.

If a majority of the council on Thursday decides to hear from the public on the Confederate monument, councilors will vote to set a special meeting, Spencer said.

The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

There is a 30-minute public forum at the start of the meeting and, if needed, another one at the end of the meeting, when members of the public can speak to any item not on the agenda. People are limited to three minutes each, but time can be reduced at the president's discretion to allow for more speakers.