It seemed to not be a big deal Monday evening when Marion City Council approved a resolution to “officially” change the name of Central Park to Brooker Park.

It was presented by city officials as a simple, low key affair. No fuss, no muss.

What bothers us at the Record, is anytime we refer to the name of the park, i.e. Old Settlers’ Day, Chingawassa Days, etc., will we have to use the official name of Brooker Park?

The council was assured the name over the park entrances would not be changed. And there would only be a plaque designating the name change. Does an adopted resolution by the governing body take precedence over signs?

A resolution or ordinance can be changed, amended, or repealed at the whim of the council and no decision should be taken lightly. This is the governing body, making decisions that could impact this community for a long time.

We know this was a difficult decision for the council and city officials, and would like to see them not in this situation again.

Let’s encourage our elected officials who serve us to set up policies to protect our beloved city from future embarrassing situations like this. We know it’s just a name and money is money but there are times when some issues are more important than money.

Is this one of them?

On a similar subject regarding the park name, our good friend Les Broadstreet was not at Monday’s council meeting. Mr. Broadstreet was a strong proponent of not changing the park name. He took it upon himself to go to downtown merchants and encouraged them to express their concerns to council members about the name change.

Les took a nasty fall a few weeks ago and is recuperating at St. Luke Hospital, Marion, following hip replacement surgery.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

— susan berg