That's why Miller, who oversees parks and recreation for this 23,000-resident Davis County community, decided to eliminate city-sponsored practices and games on Mondays. The ban will take effect in April 2007.

He says his decision, which was backed up by fellow council members, has nothing to do with the Mormon Church's practice - he's a member - of asking members to reserve Monday nights for Family Home Evening.

"Over the past 20 months numerous people have approached me about Monday practices," Miller said, estimating that Kaysville is about 90 percent LDS. According to LDS church records, 68 percent of Davis County's population belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"I believe I understand what the folks in Kaysville are after," Miller said, carefully avoiding any direct link between his beliefs and the city's new policy.

Since putting the policy in place, Miller said he's received about 50 e-mails, all favoring the ban - except for one.

"They thanked us for reverting to the previous city policy," said Miller. According to Miller, Kaysville had a similar prohibition up until about two years ago.

However, not everyone is lining up to give Miller high-fives.

Vance Garfield, Kaysville's parks and recreation director, who has been in his job for almost three years, said he'd never heard of the city previously having a policy of no practice on Mondays.

He also said the Monday ban was "not a done deal."

"Gil and I talked about it briefly before he went into the [Dec. 5] meeting. . . . I said we'd look into it further and study it to determine the impact," he said.

Kris Willey, who heads up Kaysville's recreation programs, said the council made its decision without consulting her.

She's received mixed feedback .

"I've had some positive e-mails expressing gratitude for the change, and I've had a lot of negative response as well," she said.

According to Willey, Kaysville has about 5,000 participants, ages 3 to 18, in its programs.

The ban "will definitely affect our programs. Right now we're using all our locations Monday through Saturday, and this will require more fields and facilities," Willey said.

That could mean added costs and increased fees, Willey said. The programs currently receive no subsidy from city coffers.

Kaysville resident Darin Hicks - a coach, parent and Mormon - can see both sides of the issue.

"I would prefer not to have our children practice on Monday evenings," Hicks said. "But if the city made that decision because of LDS family night, even if it is the predominant religion, that's what the Constitution is supposed to protect against.

"They're compromising the spirit of the law."

Linda Gerner, a Catholic, has two children in the city's recreation programs.

"To me, it's not whether you're yea or nay for Family Home Evening. It's wrong for the city to decide for us what we do on Monday nights," Gerner said.

At this point, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is reluctant to chime in on Kaysville's action - as it did earlier this decade over similar moves by the Provo School District.

"We would want to ask more questions as it develops," said executive director Karen McCreary.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with taking into account low attendance on Monday nights, if that's the case," McCreary said.

"But if it's an endorsement of a religious viewpoint . . that clearly suggests some problems."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com

Kaysville is not the first public entity to ban sponsored activities on Monday.

In 2002, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley encouraged schools and other entities to abstain from scheduling Monday night activities.

The Provo School District obliged and imposed a ban similar to Kaysville's. At the time, civil libertarians raised concerns about private religion dictating policy for public education.