City mayors took a stand on American military policy, passing a resolution Monday calling for an early end to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pete Lewis, a Navy veteran and non-partisan mayor of Auburn, was among those who cast a dissenting vote at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Baltimore. The resolution might send the wrong message, Lewis said, and called for it to be withdrawn before the group could vote.

“Making political statements in this forum about the war, I do not believe is proper,” Lewis told his colleagues.

The Conference of Mayors last addressed American military policy when it called for an end to the U.S. war in Vietnam, and some mayors expressed concern that the current resolution could be taken badly by the troops now deployed.

“Let’s not go and make the mistakes another generation did,” Lewis said. “So I urge that this resolution be defeated.”

But other mayors pushed ahead, citing the need for revenue for their cash-strapped cities. They say the country’s economic problems are a more pressing priority than the massive spending on the conflicts overseas.

Mayors then proposed and approved amendments changing the wording to express support for U.S. troops and acknowledging what was called the need for a strategic, stable pullout of American forces. With those changes, the mayors then approved their resolution with a call to “bring these U.S. war dollars home.”

As read by the parliamentarian, this is the amended resolution passed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, calling on Congress to redirect military spending to domestic priorities.

• Whereas, every member of the United States Conference of Mayors and the Americans they represent support our brave men and women and their families; and

• Whereas, the drawdown of troops should be done in a measured way that does not destabilize the region and that can accelerate the transfer of responsibility to regional authorities; and

• Whereas, the severity of the ongoing economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government and requires us to re-examine our national spending priorities; and

• Whereas, the people of the United States are collectively paying approximately $126 billion per year to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and

• Whereas, 6,024 members of the U.S. armed forces have died in these wars; and at least 120,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the coalition attacks began.

• Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports efforts to speed up the ending of these wars; and

• Be it further resolved, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the president and the U.S. Congress to end these wars as soon as strategically possible and to bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy.