The city almost has a new seal. But not quite.

The City Council was set to possibly vote on a new city seal selected by a committee on Monday night after Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s State of the City Address, but Councilor Bill Humphrey (a member of the group charged with getting a new seal created) asked that a vote be held so councilors could  have more time to decide on the seal.

The old

The city seal redesign effort was launched a few years ago, because of “what many felt was inappropriate symbolism in that seal,” City Councilor Joshua Krintzman, Chair of the Programs and Services Committee, said.

The current seal—created in 1685 by a Board of Selectmen because Newton wasn’t even a city yet—depicts John Elliot evangelizing to indigenous people.

Mayor Ruthanne Fuller established the City Seal Working Group—which includes City Councilor Bill Humphrey; Newton’s Director of Community Engagement and Inclusion Hattie Kerwin Derrick, Historic Newton Director Lisa Dady, Planning Department Urban Designer Shubee Sikka, as well as Jim Murphy and Ryan Naragon—to address the seal and make recommendations.

The city hired designer Sebastian Ellington Ebarb, who had worked on updating Boston’s seal and created a new seal for Natick, last winter to come up with options for Newton.

“He also has experience facilitating community discussions and was able to help lead with that,” Humphrey said.

Once three concepts were drawn up, the Working Group took feedback from the public before picking a final seal.

The new

What the Working Group chose was a seal that shows City Hall, a big tree and the Charles River and has the words “Liberty and Union” on the left side and “Thirteen Villages” on the right side, with the date 1688 (when Newton was incorporated as a town) on the bottom.

The word “Nonantum” was featured on the original seal, but it won’t be on the new one. That’s because the word doesn’t refer to the current village of Nonantum, which was named after the current seal was created.

“It refers to, again, this scene with Pastor Eliot and is sort of a synthetic or synthesized word, kind of a native word but not really original to their culture, that refers to these ‘praying towns’ so-called, which subsequently moved to Natick, which is why their seal is very similar.”

The ‘hold on’

The new seal needs approval from the City Council.

But before a vote could be called, Humphrey “chartered” the item (that refers to a motion to hold an item for the next meeting, as allowed by the City Charter) to give city councilors two weeks before the next full City Council meeting to decide if they want to approve the new seal or stick with the old one.

“I got sufficient feedback before tonight’s meeting that enough Councilors weren’t ready yet, and Council President Laredo and Mayor Fuller agreed with me that this was the most appropriate course of action,” Humphrey said after the meeting.

You can read through hundreds comments from the public here. Opinions vary, and comments range from “It represents Newton” to “pleasing but bland” to “We are what we are and we have into a beautiful City the liberals are ruining.”

One thing was made clear Monday night: Sebastian Ellington Ebarb’s work is complete, and the new design is finished. So don’t call City Hall with suggestions.