WESTLOCK — The Town of Westlock now has a naming policy for its municipal assets.
Councillors unanimously passed a naming policy at the Oct. 15 regular council meeting and appointed Coun. Laura Morie to the naming committee.
The new policy will provide a framework and act as a guideline for naming town assets, as the municipality did not have a formal process for doing so prior to adopting the new policy.
Councillors first discussed the naming policy at the May 21 committee of the whole meeting and again at the June 10 regular council meeting.
“There was discussion on it (in June) and we administratively still needed to develop the procedure that goes along with it. So that has been done from an administration side of things,” said Town of Westlock CAO Simone Wiley, noting no other suggestions or changes were received.
Prior to adopting the policy Town of Westlock Mayor Jon Kramer, pointed out that the “idea behind the policy isn’t to put a name on every single thing that we can in the community.”
“You actually need a policy to address ‘what if’ when it happens,” said Kramer.
Councillors also discussed several areas of the policy including whether or not the process of naming something would be protected under closed meeting criteria, the town’s financial obligation involved in naming something, the minimum number of letters of support required, the process for submission forms and potential future costs for commemorative naming.
At the meeting in May, Wiley noted the naming committee is responsible for reviewing and approving names submitted for naming and applications for name removal and naming of municipal assets. She also listed the different areas and sections in the policy, some of which include the creation of a naming committee, that will consist of administrative staff and one councillor, naming principles, naming criteria, commemorative naming, naming new municipal-owned buildings, neighborhoods and parks. In addition, the process to remove a name from an asset, the renaming process and criteria, the application process and naming applications was also noted.
The policy also includes a purpose, definitions, scope, and statement, which reads, “The primary function of naming municipal assets is to recognize and commemorate Westlock’s diverse communities, both historical and growing, and their contributions; local Indigenous histories and the flora, fauna, and natural features of the community.”
