What’s in a name? Well, in Soldotna, a lot more now than you may think. That’s under a new city naming policy city council members unanimously OK’d last month.
The policy applies to anything that belongs to the city, according to Jen Hester, who works for Soldotna’s Parks and Recreation Department.
“It's basically a playbook for how we will name or rename any city-owned building, facility, park, trail, public place,” she said. “The goal is to keep the process consistent, fair and definitely rooted in Soldotna’s community values.”
She’s talking to members of the department’s advisory board about the policy, which was considered during a work session late last year. The sweeping policy explains what names should represent, how names will be picked and who will do the picking.
Some Soldotna spaces are already named. The Patty Burdick City Council Chambers are named for a longtime city clerk. The Joyce C. Carver Memorial Library is named for the first library board director. And the Three Friends Dog Park is named for three Soldotna friends – Martha Brewer, Alice Puster and Dean Birmley.
The policy approved last week came from Soldotna Vice Mayor Lisa Parker. She says it’s common for people to approach the city with ideas for facility names – especially since the Soldotna Field House opened last summer.
“We've had people who want us to name the stage at Soldotna Creek Park,” she said. “We've had multiple facilities at the sports complex where people like, you know, ‘We need to name it after so-and-so,’ but we don't have a policy.”
Now, they do.
Anyone can propose a new name for an eligible city asset. A proposal must include the proposed name, background information and support for the new name, stakeholders and a map showing the location of the city asset, among other things. Preference is given to names that reflect local geography, indigenous heritage or community history and that consider the facility’s location and function.
“The priority is to choose names that have historical, cultural or geographic meaning,” Hester said. “We look at location, natural features and traditional indigenous names whenever possible.”
Names should be reasonably short and unique, and not be the name of a specific individual or organization – although there are some exceptions to that. Commercial or promotional names, names that are discriminatory or derogatory, or the name of a current elected official or city employee are not allowed.
While building Soldotna’s naming policy, Hester says they studied similar policies from places like Gig Harbor, Washington, the University of Alaska System and Anchorage. She says the effort is worth meaningful consideration.
“Names matter,” Hester said. “They help people navigate our community. They reflect our culture and history, and sometimes they honor important people or events. A clear policy takes the guesswork and the politics out of it, and it helps us make thoughtful, community minded decisions.”
Now that council has approved the policy, the city mayor will be tasked with appointing a five-member panel to review proposals. The policy says that panels should include a local historian, an Alaska Native cultural adviser, two community members and two department representatives if the proposal is for a specific facility.
The panel will collect public comments and provide a written recommendation to the city council, which gets the final say on any new names.
