Town of Hingham: Naming Policy Development Committee Meeting Minutes

Back to Naming Policy Development Committee Meeting Minutes

Naming Policy Development Committee

November 24, 2009, Hingham Town Hall

Present:
James Costello, Philip Edmundson, Jane Malme, Edward Siegfried

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Chairman Jim Costello.

The minutes of the previous meeting on November 10, 2009 were approved.

Jane Malme reported that it will be possible to include a form for the public to submit comments and suggestions to the committee on the Town website. The Committee voted to approve including a contact form, set up by the IT Department on the Town’s website at http://www.hingham-ma.gov/Committees/Naming/contact.html, and requested all comments submitted to be sent by e-mail to all committee members.

No members of the public were present at this meeting.

The Chairman requested Ed Siegfried to review and summarize other municipalities’ naming policies. Siegfried provided a written report of policies in the eleven towns reviewed and a summary of the key policies and procedures adopted by those towns. His summary of naming policies found:

Policy Included as a By-Law (3 Towns)
Written as Town policy (8 Towns)
Naming of buildings, public land done by Town Meeting (3 )
Selectmen have authority to name (3)
Selectmen responsible except for school properties (4)
No clear guideline (1)
Committee used to make recommendation on naming of buildings and public land (3)
Renaming property discouraged or to be done only by Town Meeting (7)
Naming or renaming of public building or public land requires two-thirds vote of Town Meeting (1)
Regulation/policy deals primarily with naming of public buildings or public lands (4
Procedures/policy deals with naming of rooms, plaques, memorial objects, artwork, etc.. (6)
Historical Commission makes recommendation to Town Meeting (1)
Facilities not to be named after an staff still in service to Town (1)
Policy refers to donations/contributions (5)

Following questions and discussion by committee members concerning the summary, the Chairman asked Phil Edmundson to present the grid he had developed to help focus the committee discussions. Edmundson said that the grid was intended as a discussion tool and did not indicate recommendations. The grid included the following categories and policies:


	Granting Authority	Alive or Deceased	Fundraising Naming OK?	Renaming OK
Buildings	Town Meeting	Deceased	No	No
Playgrounds, parks, courts, athletic fields, roads, intersections, medians	Town Meeting	Deceased	No	No
Rooms in a building	BOS, SC or other building owner	Either	Yes	No
Building construction plaques	BOS, SC or other building owner	Either	No	No
Benches, bricks, flagpoles, parking spaces	Board of Selectmen, SC or other building owner	Either	No	No
Private ways on public property	Board of Selectmen, SC or other building owner	Deceased	No	No

A general discussion followed in regard to each of the headings, and suggestions for additions, such as specifically listing the Hingham Public Library among those with naming authority for rooms, plaques, benches, etc. Questions about procedures for submitting nominations were raised, in reference to appointing standing or special naming committees, or requiring input from specific committees, such as the Historical Commission, that were included in some of the other towns reviewed
For the next meeting, members will continue to review policies and procedures of other municipalities and the key policy issues introduced in the “grid” in order to develop preliminary proposals.

The Chairman adjourned the meeting at 8:55 p.m.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, December 15 at 7:30 pm in the Hingham Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,
Jane Malme, Clerk.