Post Falls mayor proclaims June as Traditional Family Values Month

Post Falls Mayor Randy Westlund marked June as Traditional Family Values Month, giving official city recognition to an issue that has become a test of how far local government should go in signaling social values. The proclamation is ceremonial, not regulatory, so it does not change city code, school policy or church practice, but it does put the mayor’s office squarely behind a message that divides many Kootenai County residents.

Westlund had already laid down that marker in February, when he said he wanted Post Falls to be able to issue proclamations on what he called more controversial topics, including traditional family values month, right to life and Columbus Day. At the time, city policy from 2001 limited proclamations that were political, religious or aimed at influencing government policy. City attorney Field Harrington said that policy had filled a gap because Idaho had no state statute setting a standard for mayoral proclamations.

The new proclamation aligns Westlund with an Idaho political campaign that has gained momentum from Boise to Kootenai County. The Idaho House approved House Concurrent Resolution 18 on March 26, 2025, designating the stretch from Mother’s Day through Father’s Day as Traditional Families Month. Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, sponsored the resolution, and Sen. Ben Toews backed it in the Senate. During the House debate, Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, argued the measure singled out some families and echoed an era when women had fewer economic rights.

Westlund’s move comes after another split decision in Post Falls. On Feb. 18, 2026, the City Council voted 4-2 to remove Juneteenth as a city holiday and restore Columbus Day. Westlund defended the change by saying Juneteenth had been “pushed for political purposes” and that Columbus Day better honored “American heritage.” Council members Joe Malloy, Nathan Ziegler and Marc Lucca publicly staked out different views, with Malloy supporting recognition of both holidays, Ziegler saying the observances need not be mutually exclusive, and Lucca noting Columbus Day’s ties to an anti-Italian discrimination response.

The politics around the proclamation are not new in the northern Idaho region. In Coeur d’Alene, a June 4, 2025 council meeting on a Traditional Family Values Month proclamation drew about 125 people and turned standing-room-only, with supporters applauding. Former city attorney Mike Gridley argued during public comment that people of different races and sexual orientations should be free to make their own lifestyle choices. In Post Falls, where Westlund was elected mayor in 2026 after two years on the City Council and moved in 2018 with his wife and five children, the proclamation signals a leadership style that favors symbolic votes and public declarations that land far beyond the city hall microphone.