Pocatello flag committee narrows it down to six

After more than a year of work, Pocatello is one step closer to having a new flag.

Saturday, the flag committee expert panel started with about 20 designs. These are designs the panel had previously wanted to see reworked or changed a little to better fit the city and its symbolism.

The panel was able to do live editing this time and change things like colors, the arrangement, or size in order to get the most fitting design for Pocatello.

The committee narrowed it down to six designs. The next step is that the full flag committee will have to approve those designs. They will then to go the public for comment.

Logan McDougall, chairman of the flag committee, said they hope to have those out to the public within the next month to start taking comments.

He said the whole process has taken a lot longer than expected, but it’s because of things like lots of design submissions. He said the committee has worked hard and he feels they’ve done a great job.

“I think everyone on the committee, everyone on the expert panel, I think they’ve done an amazing job with the task they’ve been given,” McDougall said. “It’s taken longer than we’ve anticipated but it’s all been because good things have happened.”

April is the one-year mark of the first meeting of the flag committee.

Here’s a quick timeline showing some of the major steps in progress made in the past year:

Jan. 2016 – Pocatello’s flag called “worst in the nation;” mayor begins efforts to design a new one
Apr. 2016 – Flag design committee holds its first meeting
July 2016 – Flag committee presents plan to get design submissions coming in
Aug. 2016 – CBS Sunday Morning airs story on the Pocatello flag; gets national recognition and submissions
Dec. 2016 – 709 design submissions received from all around the world
Jan. 2017 – Flag committee allows revisions to designs; narrows it down to 330 possible designs
Feb. 2017 – All original submissions put on display for public comment to take back to the expert panel
Apr. 2017 – Committee reviews public comments; committee revisions to designs continue
Apr 29, 2017 – Committee narrows it down to their top six designs