In August, the school board passed to the borough the decision on renaming the high school basketball court after a former coach. Now, the assembly has alley-ooped the decision back over to the board to have the final say.

The drawn-out process, which began in February with a renaming request to the school board signed by nine people, led to the borough to now consider an ordinance to guide future situations like this.

At the Sept. 22 meeting, the borough assembly held their first reading of an ordinance that would act as a guide for the dedication of municipal facilities or streets in honor of a person or persons. This ordinance came after Assembly Member David Powell expressed concern over making decisions without guidance when Borough Manager Mason Villarma suggested at the Sept. 8 meeting allowing the school district to make decisions for the buildings they operate. 

The borough owns the school buildings but the district operates them.

Satisfied with the new ordinance, the assembly voted unanimously on Sept. 22 to move forward to a final review at the Oct. 13 meeting.

Separate from naming buildings, the borough has set a policy that will allow the school board to decide whether the basketball court will be renamed. 

“My feeling is that the school operates those facilities and it’s best vested in their court, so to speak,” Villarma said at the Sept. 8 assembly meeting.

An objection by Assembly Member Dave Powell on Sept. 8 over the lack of clear requirements that needed to be met to rename things in the community led to the issue being tabled until the Sept. 22 meeting so that borough officials could draft a naming ordinance.

“There’s just a lot of things that we’re not doing properly, I feel, and I think that we should have a policy on how to name things,” Powell said. “Especially, I mean, those buildings are ours.”

In the interim between assembly meetings, the school board met on Sept. 21 and voted to indefinitely table the issue until they could receive further guidance.

The naming ordinance brought to the assembly was borrowed from Ketchikan, according to Villarma, and includes: Whether it honors historical events or cultural influences significant to Wrangell and/or whether it honors a person or organization that has made particularly important and lasting contributions to Wrangell, Alaska, the nation or the world.

Any requests for naming would have to be submitted to the borough clerk to be measured against the ordinance requirements before being brought to the assembly for a vote.

The ordinance will get a public hearing at the Oct. 13 assembly meeting, where members could vote on the measure. If approved, it would apply to streets, sidewalks and public places, as well as properties owned and controlled by the borough.

On the topic of whether or not to rename the high school gym court after longtime basketball coach Ray Stokes, the borough recognized the school board’s authority to name the properties they operate. It will be up to the school board to decide.

Stokes coached the high school boys basketball team 1987-2017, winning seven Southeast titles and a state runner-up finish in 2005.

“So … the school gym,” Villarma said at the Sept. 22 meeting “I would not consider that that’s our role in naming. Because we own it and we don’t operate it.”