Councilmember Erin Goggin speaks on vote to end invocations at start of council meetings

2nd District Councilmember Erin Goggin spoke on La Crosse Talk with Sean Dwyer on Friday regarding the City Council's vote to end the practice of invocations at the beginning of city council meetings.  She was one of four members who voted against the measure. The others were Barb Janssen, Chris Kahlow, and Gary Padesky.  For more on the story, read WIZM's Brad Williams' story below. No more invocations at the start of La Crosse city council meetings. Council members Thursday voted 9-4 to end the practice of inviting representatives of the faith community to offer a message at the monthly council sessions. That's a tradition which was adopted by the council in 2009. Mackenzie Mindel sponsored the resolution at the urging of some members of the public.  "I'm really glad that's over," Mindel said after the vote, "because it's really difficult ... to have the community so upset about an issue."  She added that people have asked her for several years to propose an end to the invocation practice. Mindel argued that the La Crosse County Board also used to have invocations at its meetings, but that practice ended some years ago.  About 40 to 50 people attended Thursday's meeting, with several supporters of invocations gathered outdoors in the rain before the council session to show their support of the practice. City leaders said the vote to end invocations would not change other traditions at council meetings, such as a moment of silence or the Pledge of Allegiance.  In other action, the council approved a move to shorten the term of La Crosse municipal judge from four years to just two years, to align with the custom in other communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.