PRINEVILLE — The Prineville City Council decided Tuesday night it needs a few more weeks to work on a resolution that would allow a Nativity scene to be displayed on public property.

“I know you all want to hear an answer,” said Prineville Mayor Betty Roppe to the roughly 40 people in attendance. “We want to give that answer to you. Please give us a chance to weigh all the options.”

The council deadlocked on the issue at its April 26 meeting, voting 3-3 on a resolution that would establish a temporary “holiday plaza” each winter. That resolution obligated the city to “sponsor an annual Christmas display to be located at the plaza west of City Hall.”

Councilors disagreed at the April meeting about the use of the word “Christmas,” responding to concerns raised by David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. Fidanque said in April the way the city proposed to establish the holiday zone presented legal problems.

The council chose to move the vote to Tuesday, when absent councilor Jack Seley would be in attendance to break the tie. But instead of voting on the resolution, the council received an update from city attorney Carl Dutli and elected to enter into executive session to discuss the legal ramifications of the proposal.

Before entering the closed-door session, Dutli told councilors he may have discovered a way to allow the Nativity to be displayed in the plaza without opening the city to potential legal problems.

“(The ACLU was) saying the resolution runs afoul of the Oregon Constitution,” Dutli said. “Strictly from a legal standpoint, it is my recommendation that if possible that the siting and care and display of the Nativity be done by a group other than the council.”

As long as the city has nothing to do with the actual placement or upkeep of the Nativity, Dutli believes, the council can designate the holiday plaza without incurring legal risk.

Roppe said after the meeting that in the coming weeks she will speak to community members who may wish to be caretakers of the Nativity scene.

She said she hopes to know whether such a plan would work before taking up the issue at the next council meeting, on May 24.

Discussion on the constitutionality of a Nativity scene previously displayed at the entrance of Prineville City Hall has persisted since December. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national nonprofit group dedicated to the separation of church and state, complained about the display on behalf of an unnamed Prineville resident.

The city has received multiple letters on the subject, and several residents have spoken to the council. Residents have expressed multiple viewpoints, but most would like the Nativity scene to be displayed in some fashion.

Seley made a point Tuesday night to remind the public of the council’s objectives.

“It’s important we stress what (the) council’s goals really are,” Seley said before reading from the resolution. “Whereas the city of Prineville wishes to remain a welcoming place for people of all beliefs and show no particular favor to any belief.”