Public Naming Commission - May 13, 2026

All right, good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting of the May meeting of the Public Naming Commission to order. Jasmine, could you call the roll, please?

Member Harrison? Here. Member Gilbert? Here. Chair Hess?

Here. Chair, you do not have a quorum. Thank you.

Would somebody like to volunteer to do the land acknowledgement? I can. All right, Jess. Um, a land acknowledgement is a formal statement recognizing the Indigenous people of a place. It is a public gesture of appreciation for the past and present Indigenous stewardship for the lands that we inhabit.

It is an actionable statement that marks our collective movement towards decolonization and equity. The Public Naming Commission would like to acknowledge that we gather together traditional lands of the Tanana Athabascans. For thousands of years, the Tanana have been and continue to be the stewards of this land. It's with gratitude and respect that we recognize the contributions, innovations, and contemporary perspectives of the Upper Cook Inlet Tanaana.

Thank you, Jen. We don't have a quorum, so we can't approve the agenda or the minutes of the November, December, and March meetings. We don't have any Unfinished business. Well, first new item, item of business, new business is to elect the chair and vice chair. We don't have a quorum, so we can't do that, but we can hear the request, the proposal, if anybody would like to speak on the request to rename the new downtown library.

Oh, Chair, can I just mention who's absent real quick? Pardon me? Can I just mention who's absent? Okay. Members Heller, Gupta, and Khan are absent.

Thank you. Come forward, grab a microphone, introduce yourself, please. Not that we don't know who you are.

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Nikolai. I'm the assistant director of the Anchorage Public Library.

We brought forward a request to you to name the downtown library, or the proposed downtown library, which we hope to open in early 2027, the Anchorage Original Townsite Downtown Library. This library is funded entirely by a grant from the state of Alaska as well as a bequest from Ms. Janet Goetz, and within her will and bequest, which not only— which will fund 12 years of operation, was the name Anchorage Original Townsite Library. We have added the downtown, as it is the policy of the Anchorage Public Library to, as we name new locations, add a geographic distinction to the library. Um, we do— I do understand you don't have a quorum. I'm so excited to learn about the future steps.

We expect to begin construction this summer on this library, and we need to order a sign. So I'm curious as to what the steps are for the naming.

Thank you, Elizabeth. Um, the way it would work, somebody submits the proposal, the commission looks at it, and we would set a public hearing, at least one public hearing. Uh, the public hearing has to be properly noticed.

And at the end of the public hearing, then the commission, we would discuss what we heard, discuss the proposal, and we would vote a recommendation that would go to the administration, the mayor, and the assembly. And the assembly would take final action by resolution on the name. And as part of the public hearing and as part of the process, we would also consider any other names brought forward by members of the public. During the process, those— the group or individuals who propose a naming, they can submit letters of support, resolutions from community councils, any other documents that they would like to provide. Members of the public can show up at the hearing and express their support.

It's not that lengthy of a process. Uh, we— that was something we were going to discuss when to schedule, um, public hearings. So public hearing could be— we could schedule a public hearing for— we have 3 proposals. I, I think we would probably do them one at a time, or we can actually schedule— and we can do the hearing at our regular scheduled meeting in June. Or we can schedule a special meeting.

So that's something the commission would have to discuss. Um, any thoughts from any other commissioners? I guess just one extra step that we had developed when we were developing our procedures, and that was that we do send a letter to the community council wherever the thing is located. So that, um, the community council is aware of the public hearing, so if they wanted to come to the public hearing they could, or if they wanted to send letters yay or nay, they could. Haka, uh, Jasmine has informed me what we do have a quorum.

So we, we do have a new commissioner, so let's— can we back up? Elizabeth, do you have anything to us? Sorry, no, that's it. I forgot you were sitting over there. That's all right, that sounds fantastic.

So I, I, we have a quorum so we can actually discuss setting up public hearing for the main proposed name of the downtown library. So, um, if we go around and introduce ourselves, uh, members of the commission. I'm Darrell Hess, I'm the chair of the commission. Uh, Jenny Harrison, I'm the vice chair. I'm Aisha Gilbert, I'm new.

Is that your line, Kevin?

We can't hear you, Kevin. We can't hear you. I can hear you, but I think that they can't hear us. Uh, I hear you, cuckoo. Oh, okay.

So, okay. And I think they just can't hear you. And I can hear both of you, wow. But Kevin was saying that he could not hear our new member, and if they could just share more, and then Kevin wanted to introduce himself.

Turn on your microphone. It has to be green.

Push it, the green light will come up. My name is Aisha Gilbert. We received a notice— I'm on the Cook Inlet Historical Society board— we received a notice from this commission, if any board members were interested in joining this commission, and I applied. I'm an artist. I've lived here for 52 years.

I've been on the museum board, the Rosea board, a lot of boards in town, and dealt with historic projects.

Testing, testing, can you hear me?

Yes. Okay, um, well, super nice to meet you. I, I apologize, I didn't hear you before, so thank you for repeating that for me. Yeah, just, uh, my name is Kevin Hiller and, uh, I'm also new to the board here, gosh, uh, maybe 6 months now. So, but happy to have you, just a member, uh, member here at large.

Thank you, Kevin. And I see the municipal manager has joined us. Hi guys, I'm Becky McPherson. I'm the business manager. I apologize for my lateness.

I wanted to come down and join because this is a critical project for the administration and just wanted to be able to be part of and support the request to the Navy Commissioned Corps of Navy. So thanks for having me. Good evening, Ms. Earp. I'm going to back up a little bit because we— Cuckoo and Kevin have joined us. Elizabeth, the Deputy Director of the Library, spoke a few minutes ago about the proposed naming of the new downtown library.

Uh, the proposed name is the Anchorage Original Townsite Downtown Library. Uh, a former resident of Anchorage, when she passed away, Janet, years ago donated several million dollars for the— to fund the operations of a downtown library. And I believe, Elizabeth, she said her bequest will fund the operations of the library for 12 years. And her request was not to name it after herself, but to name it Original Anchorage, Original Townsite Library. And the library has added Downtown because it's their policy to identify branch libraries by their location.

Um, and Elizabeth had asked what the process is because we really want to they need to order a sign for the library, new proposed library. They want to get it open, I believe, in early 2027, possibly. Um, and I explained that we have to hold a public hearing and we have to notice the public. Uh, we could take action as a commission, they— at the closing of the hearing. So the hearing takes place, we close the public hearing we could discuss it at that meeting and vote a recommendation.

We vote a recommendation that would go to the mayor, the administration, and the assembly, and the assembly would make the final decision by resolution, I believe. Um, we could schedule the public hearing for this project because we— I think there's a timeline crunch here, and it's a major project in the downtown revitalization efforts. We could schedule that public hearing for our June meeting if that's the will of the commission. So any thoughts from the commissioners? If anybody would like to make a motion or to hold the public hearing at our June regularly scheduled June meeting, I would entertain that resolution or that motion.

And if anybody has any comments at this time—. Through the chair, I provided the timeline to you for the code, um, and it was written That notice of public hearing pursuant to Chapter 1.25 shall be published at least 21 days prior and also be given to the community council where the public place under consideration is located. So there is specific guidelines for public hearings. So if we decide to set the public hearing for our June meeting, we could notice it tomorrow and notify the community council. We would be well within the 21 days.

Yes. Okay, so if we make that decision to schedule a public hearing for our regular, regular June meeting, we can notice the community council and publish the notice of the hearing tomorrow, and we would be— beat the 21-day requirements. So any thoughts, comments, or a motion? So moved.

Okay, can I get a second? So you have moved to hold the public hearing for the proposed naming of the downtown library at our June, regular June meeting. Can I get a second? Uh, this is Danielle, second. And I just want to clarify that that would be on June 10th.

Okay, so our June 10th regularly scheduled meeting. Any discussion?

Yeah, I had a, I had a brief question, and I, you may not be able to give this context, and that is, that's okay. Um, I'm wondering, uh, if you happen to know this, uh, I, I did read the document, and I'm wondering if why Anchorage original town site specifically, did that hold meaning, a lot of meaning to the individual, uh, to to the donor, to the library specifically, or is there like more to that name than just wanting to name it? And I'm not sure if you can add context, and if not, that's, that's totally okay. I understand. So Elizabeth might be able to answer this, but I did want to say that I believe her request, one of the conditions of the bequest, was that the library be located within the boundaries of the original town site, which is the downtown core.

So that was her request, that the branch library had to be within the boundaries of the old town site, and it was her desire to have that name attached to it. I believe that's—. That is, that is exactly what I was going to say, is, um, I never met Miss Getz personally, but yes, that was the boundaries of the, um, the geographic boundaries for the location.

I, uh, I will second that motion.

So it was moved by Aisha and seconded by Jim. So I missed her, sorry. Any further discussion? Elizabeth? I do not want to— when I'm the one asking for a quicker timeline, I do not want to be the one who actually slows it down.

But in your requirement to notify the community council that Downtown Community Council only meets every other month, and they met in May and don't meet again until July. Does that adjust your time? No, I would just notify the— Sylvia, the president. Okay. I think I'm having lunch with her next week.

I, I didn't want to slow it down, but I wanted to make sure. It's that we— notifying the leadership is, is sufficient. All right, are we— any other discussion? Um, I had a quick question about that physical address, physical location? Because, uh, it mentions that she loved libraries, specifically her neighborhood library on 4th and F that closed in 1986.

Is this reopening in the same location? Because this is also— at least part of the doc is also, uh, on 4th and F. It's close, but it's not The downtown library, if I remember correctly, is closer to the Egan and the building that's just remodeled.

But it's close. I think it was on the other side of F Street, if I remember right.

It's definitely not the same building. I don't remember exactly which building the old one was in, but it's not—. It was never in Old City Hall previously. A new use of that space. This part used to be a fire station historically, and then it was a—.

And then it currently—. But most recently it was used as Anchorage's visitor center. Any other discussion or questions? We have a call to vote. All of those in favor of the motion to hold the public hearing for proposed naming of the new downtown library at our June 10th Regular scheduled meeting, signify by saying aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposition?

Seeing and hearing none, that motion is carried. We will— Jasmine, I'll get with you tomorrow, make sure we do the public noticing, and I will notify Sylvia and copy you on the email. And Jen, Anything else, Elizabeth, Becky? Well, thank you for coming. Hopefully we'll get this moving along.

And I would also encourage those who support this to have people send us letters of support or emails or show up for the hearing. Thank you.

All right, so we're going to back up now that we have a quorum. Um, and could I get a motion to approve the agenda?

Uh, motion. Kevin moved to approve the agenda. This is Jenny. I second it. And at what point do I add?

Do I add after you second it? And any discussion or additions?

Um, I wanted to just have a minute to talk about the unfinished business of Indigenous naming pathway policy consultation. I just had a small update. Okay, the Indigenous Pathways naming policy, we will add that in under unfinished business. Any opposition to adding that? All right, any other addition?

All right, all those In favor of accepting the agenda as amended, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposition? Seeing and hearing none, the amended agenda is adopted unanimously.

Um, can I get a motion to accept the— have you all had a chance to look at the November, December, and March meeting minutes. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes. Can I get a motion to accept all three?

Uh, this is Jenny Ander to approve all three minutes. Can I get a second? Second. All right, I think Kevin was first. Um, any discussion?

Um, yeah, just, uh, well, you know what, never mind. Uh, Jen said she was going to share, so, uh, a brief update on the pathways, so I'll wait for— I'll wait for that. Okay, seeing and hearing no, uh, proposed amendments to the meeting minutes, can I— all those in favor of accepting the November and December and March minutes as written, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Any opposition? Seeing and hearing none, those minutes are approved. Jin, the Indigenous Pathways I just wanted to give a quick update of my conversations or emails with, uh, Anadota Lakota.

Um, we did— I did send them the letter where we're encouraging them to encourage someone to apply to be a part of the commission. That email letter was sent. Um, I have spoken to their new tribal administrator, encouraged them to talk to people about it. Um, and I am also attending one of their events on Thursday evening, and so I was going to use that opportunity again to say, hey, you know, things are actually happening. We have 3 requests at our meeting this month.

It'd be great if, you know, someone could apply, um, to fill that seat of representing Native Village of Okalutna. But I don't have a name of anyone interested yet. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Um, so I'm just wondering, like, let's say that we don't get someone from the native village of Eklutna, but there is someone that is— like, let's say we, we try very much and we, and we push forward, um, and we We really try outreach, but we can't get anyone.

I'm just wondering if another individual that is Alaska Native or Native American would like to serve, if they would. I, and I can't remember if we designated that spot specifically for Kūna, or if it was left open to Indigenous representation, understanding that that person would not represent all Indigenous people, but just that we wanted that open. And I could not remember if that was designated or if we kind of left it open for others to join it, and that, and if that were to be the case, and wouldn't be able to join us or have someone serve.

My understanding, without the code in front of me, is that there are designated seats and we should make every effort to fill them with the people that have the expertise or the knowledge that we desire. But if we make a good faith effort and we can't get somebody to apply, that I think we can appoint somebody, somebody else could come in. Through the chair, it says a person recommended by the Native Village of Eklutna, so I think that gives you a little wiggle room in that sense. So it doesn't have to be anybody who's part of Eklutna or works for Eklutna or even lives in Eklutna, but they just would have to recommend them. Understood.

Okay, thank you for that clarification. Kevin, if you happen to know someone that was interested Um, I think that we could help them if they don't know anyone from Oklutna, um, propose that idea to Oklutna because the people that I've talked to are supportive of the public commission, but they're either shy about, you know, public meetings, or, um, they already have so much on their plate they just don't have time. But they are supportive of the public commission. So if there was someone that, that was interested in being kind of a go-between, you know, that would, uh, come, you know, apply to be a person of our commission, but then like commit to, you know, personally updating them on what's going on, or, you know, that sort of thing, they could, they could be interested. Um, I did want to mention that I found out that their council meetings only happen once a quarter.

Um, so that does mean that we need to, you know, kind of give them some time because they're not meeting everyone. Question: you— have you talked to Aaron Leggett about recommending someone? Has he given you anything? I've talked to my friend Aaron multiple times about it. Aaron's very busy.

Well, no, not Aaron being a person. No, no, but I mean he's Busy. I've talked—. Well, so I was wondering if we could just, you know, through their Facebook page, because they post— I mean, they posted 5 hours ago about something. I was wondering if I was to get on Canva and just pull together a very simple square asking or letting people know that we exist and requesting that they post it on their Facebook page, like that's all we're requesting for them to do is just post it.

Do you think that that is possible? Possible? Would they be amenable to doing that, at least to get some, I don't know, some recognition through their Facebook page?

Yes, I think so. Um, I had encouraged them to post something on their Facebook page, and I found out that like only one person has authorization to do that, you know, has to go through this very specific person. But, um, I think if we had a like picture good to go Yeah, so it's real easy to just post it, right? That would be easier than them having to create the content themselves. Exactly, yes.

Okay, so, and then do we have— I mean, I could just start a draft on Canva, like a square for them, but I'm assuming we would have to go through some sort of communications channel for it to be posted publicly, no?

No, no. Okay, on my Facebook page, the open seats and that we were looking for members. Okay, so then Jenny and Darryl, I can work on this this weekend and send something to you, and then maybe we could see if they'd be willing to post it. That's the thing, that we're making it so they— the only thing they'd have to do is just post it.

And Ayesha, you know Aaron. Sure, he works at the museum. He's a good counterpart. So maybe if you reached out to him also, maybe you'd have better luck. I think he gets tired of me reaching out to him for things.

Okay, I will.

And I do think that it would help to say that we got 3 requests this month, um, because when, uh, Faith, their executive assistant, assistant attended to see what it was like. You know, we—. I don't even know if we had a quorum. We were still building stuff. You know, it wasn't like, hey, we need help right now.

So now that we're starting to move forward with nominations for naming, I might be more interested in recommending somebody. Um, I will talk to him. Thank you. I promise nothing. He might like you better than me.

I will talk to him.

No, we're good friends. In case that this doesn't like pan out and we're still looking for someone to fill that seat, there are a number of co-workers that I say, hey, I'm on the Public Gaming Commission, and they say, you're on the what? And I say, Public Gaming Commission, do you know about that? And then I've sent them the website and things like that, and I've had two people ask about, oh, so if I were you know, if I were interested in joining it and they're Alaska Native, how would I, you know, how would I do that? And I explained that.

So there is some potential interest there. So just as like if we continue to reach out to Eklutna and it doesn't follow and we can't follow through and we would like some type of representation, I know that there is some interest on my front at the consortium. So just to keep that in our back pocket if we want to talk about that in a future future meeting in a few months.

Well, I, I think you could connect them. We could connect them with somebody at Eklutna. Jen could, and they could apply if Eklutna is willing to recommend them. I don't think we have to wait. There's also the fact that we have 9— what's in it, 9 seats?

9 Seats. And we only have 5 filled. 6. 6 Filled. Okay, 6 filled.

Um, so besides the Eklutna seat, there are still empty seats, so they could apply just to apply, um, and then later if they got, uh, nominated or approved by Eklutna, then that would just like put them into a specific seat. But we have open seats. Yeah, that's true. I wasn't— yeah, I wasn't thinking about that just because, uh So that's been on my mind, but I will definitely recommend that to them to apply so we could go ahead and fill those seats, and it would be easier for quorum as well in case someone has to miss. So I'll make sure to do that.

And yeah, of course. And if they do end up applying, you know, and the next time we meet, I can let you all know that they did. And I'm sure we'll get information from the municipality and stuff as well.

Great. I can let you know what seats are still open if you'd like. Yes. So we have seat 3, which is the person recommended by the Native Village of Eklutna, seat 5, a member with experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion work, and seat 6, which is an at-large member. First—.

Yeah, seat—. So we have an at-large member, and I think the diversity, equity, and inclusion would cover a lot of organizations that people may have worked for or currently work for.

All right, anything else on this topic?

That brings us—. Oh, sorry, I have a question. So I'm actually working on Canva right now as we speak. It's apply for the Public Naming Commission and not join, right? That's the ask?

Yes, you apply. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. You apply to serve.

Apply to serve. Okay, thank you.

All right, so our next item is elect a chair and vice chair. So Jasmine, did you want to run this part of the meeting?

Do we have a nomination for chair? I'm sorry, could you repeat that one more time for me? I apologize, we weren't able to hear anything. Sorry. Do we have a nomination for chair?

Is Darryl willing to continue to serve? Yes. I would nominate Darryl. Are there any other nominations?

Um, I want to make a comment. I think right now, for the— since we're just kind of getting started in the naming processes here, I just want to second that nomination that we it's nice to have a strong leader in this right now as we're kind of getting things marching along. Um, so I just, I just want to say I think it's strategic, and I very much appreciate you continuing to do that, to kind of get us trained up in that as we kind of continue on and have that maybe succession planning or something along those lines as we move forward. So if you're comfortable with that, I would appreciate that, that continued leadership. Thank you.

I third. Is there unanimous agreement to have Member Hess proceed as chair? Yes.

Aye. Yes. All right, we'll move on to vice chair. Are there any nominations for vice chair?

Can I offer a disclosure? Absolutely. I wanted to disclose that I have accepted a new position that is technically out of town. I'm working for the Unalchik Tribe down on Lower Kachemak Peninsula. I'm their new tribal health director, and my current schedule is to work in Unalchik for 2 weeks, come home and work from my Anchorage home for 1 week, and then go back for 2 weeks and come home for 1 week.

So the weeks that I'm working from home, like this week, I can attend in person. The 2 weeks that I'm working in, in Milchick, I could continue to attend by, um, remotely. But I think that that's an important disclosure. I, I would be willing to continue to serve in the seat, but this might also be an opportunity for someone else that's more 100% Jasmine, quick question for clarification. I— well, I guess what I would— I know we're kind of all hands on deck in a sense.

Like, it seems like you both have been working together in being able to support each other as Vice Chair and Chair. Um, I'm just— I wonder if we could pull up the description, um, or something along those lines. Um, yeah, I totally meant to do that earlier, but I'm traveling for a conference and I just— I totally forgot to bring that up.

What description are you looking for? Sorry, I need clarification. No, that's okay. I wasn't sure if we had descriptions like outlined of like job— like, uh, responsibilities for Vice Chair and Chair. I couldn't remember.

I don't, I don't believe we do in our bylaw. Okay, you know what, that's, that's even better.

Um, that's even, that's even better. So, um, yeah, um, so I, I believe we need a vice chair, and I think, Jenny, I think you've got, you've got a lot going on for your new position, so I hear, I hear what you're saying. Um, I I would nominate myself unless others would prefer, um, just because I think it's important. I—. The one thing I worry about is I travel a lot for work, and so I, I worry that, like, I— like, like today, for example, I could only be virtual, um, and that's how work often is.

So I, I just don't want that to potentially inhibit, but I'm open to other people wanting to nominate themselves, um, and like in that vice chair position and have a conversation about it too. Um, knowing, Jenny, your current— like, your current situation, if you really do want to like pass the torch so you can kind of focus on this new position you have going on with all your travel.

So I did find in the bylaws through the chair, uh, it just says the vice chair shall assist the chair in the performance of the chair's prescribed duties, and in the absence of the chair shall possess the the same powers and perform the same duties as the chair. The vice chair shall also perform such other duties as the commission, uh, may from time to time prescribe.

Thank you, Jasmine. I know that Jen has put a lot of time into this. She's willing to continue serving, so I'd like to nominate, uh, Jen for vice chair. Second. I second.

Oh, third. Fourth.

I'm hearing that's unanimous consent. Jen, do you accept as vice chair? Yeah, I accept, but I'm also open to mentorship of the next potential vice chair. And I, I believe that we have two-term limits, so I'm also— anybody who's interested in being chair because my term actually started in January. Even though we had the election now, it actually started in January, so there's only a few months left.

So anybody's interested in being chair in the future— sorry, I got a nomination on the floor.

Through the chair, it says no commissioner may hold more than one office concurrently, but it also mentions that It should be done annually in January, so I don't know if you want to consider this a first term or if you want to wait till January again. Yeah, we'll see what happens.

With that, um, does everyone unanimously consent to Jen being vice chair? Yeah. Aye.

Yeah. Member Harrison, your vice chair. Well, thank you everyone, that was smooth. I appreciate your confidence. We have discussed the downtown library naming request, so next we have the Centennial Park naming request.

This request was filed by Hart Incorporated which is a local nonprofit. I'm trying to remember real quickly.

It is— I thought I was sounding a little funny there. Um, they would like to rename— they propose renaming Centennial Park as Hmong Veterans Memorial Park. This is the park where the Hmong Market has been held for several years. A lot of people currently refer to it as Hmong Park, and I need to disclose that I suggested to the group that they submit this request. Centennial Park was named in 1966.

It was named in— to commemorate the 1967 centennial of the Alaska Purchase. A lot of people don't even remember what it was named for. And I know a lot of my Alaska Native friends don't celebrate the Alaska Purchase. And the Hmong community has put a lot of effort in time into the market that is held in that park. So I don't know when we want to schedule a public hearing.

Would we want to do it in July, possibly, since we scheduled one for June, or consider a special meeting in June? Or because this process is new, do we want to go through the downtown library process, see how it goes, and then schedule This one. Any thoughts?

Um, I guess I kind of need clarification on the Pina Park Market. Like, is that a separate piece of land where the— according to the picture, it looks like a separate piece of land. Okay, they just use this parking lot. Good question. So it is— so this doesn't encompass the area that they want to name, it's just to show where the market's at.

So there's a lot of confusion. People refer to Peanut Park, there is no Peanut Park, it's the Penis Sports Fields. So there's sports fields within Centennial Park that are named Penis Sports fields, our athletic fields. It's not a park, it's not designated as a park. So that— those sports fields are within Centennial Park, and a lot of people get confused and they refer to Pena Park.

So the market is actually held near the athletic fields, but it's in Centennial Park. It's in Centennial Park. And they do a really good job at that market. We go there every summer, you know, they sell vegetables early, they sell them late, they have many stands, it's very family-oriented, you know, large families, you know, cooking and running stands. It's just started up again.

One of the reasons that they have made this request is the legislature and the assembly have appropriated money to construct a Hmong Veterans Memorial, an actual memorial, and they're looking for a location to place it. So they, they're, they're making this request to rename the park and with the intention of having that memorial put in the park. I guess the next question for clarification is the application specifically says that they're not trying to rename the whole park. They just want to rename a space inside the park, which sounds similar to the Kena Sports Field. So it's a space inside the park.

I think that's something we as a commission would have to look at. You— we would have to, I think, engage with Parks and Rec and ask how that would work. Even though they're not asking to rename the entire park, can you just rename a portion of Park, or does it have to be if the memorial is located there, could you rename that section? So I think that's a question for Parks and Rec. I think it'd probably be cleaner just to rename the whole park, and I think that's a decision the commission can make.

Um, I guess the other— regarding the discussion on July, uh, since we already have some scheduled for June, um I, I would be interested in, besides us just sending a letter to the community council, that somehow we let this, this market organization know about the public meeting. So people that go to the market, like, somehow, I don't know if there can be a posting at the market.

Apply it, or I don't know. I just think that people that regularly attend this market should know that this is happening. I could— that could happen. My former Deputy Ombudsman runs the LLC that facilitates the market, so I'm sure she would be happy to help get the word out. That's a great idea because I think people who are the vendors of the market, who I'm sure would like to be part of the public process.

And it would be great to allow their voices to be heard.

So do we want to not schedule a public hearing tonight for this one, but wait and see how the one goes in June, but in the meantime, reach out to the Community Council and to to the vendors at the market to let them know this proposal is being considered, and they'll be notified about a public hearing schedule.

Would this also be in the Downtown Community Council? This would be Northeast Community Council. Mm-hmm. Because it wouldn't shock me if one of these community councils says something like, well, why can't the public hearing be on our council meeting night? Why can't we host the public hearing?

Or I just feel like there could be some pushback. Or yeah, by code, we, we hold the hearing. The commission hosts the hearing. Community Council could request a presentation regarding the proposal. I'm sure I would not be surprised if a Community Council requests the presentation.

At the time I was thinking that we're doing two in the same community councils. Library is Southtown Community Council. Centennial Park is over by the Glen Highway near Tecate News Square, so it'd be Northeast Community Council.

Do you perceive that there might be some interesting discussions around this? I think this— I, with the old naming process, I staffed several naming panels and I served on several. And one of the, one of the things we're charged with as a commission, anybody comes to us at the hearing or before the hearing, anybody can submit a proposed name. They can suggest an alternate name, uh, which we would have to look at. Consider.

But anybody has that right to, during the hearing process, to say, well, I think this is a better name, and we would look at that. But you frequently will have people who are vested, very, as you know, vested on one side of the issue or the other.

I don't think the downtown library will be very controversial. I don't think I don't think Centennial Park would be that controversial because most people don't even remember what it was named for.

But you never know.

So what's the will of the body regarding— do we just give advance notice to the community council and the vendors at the market and decide at the June meeting when— or before the June meeting when we want to schedule it here.

I have a clarification question around the funding that they received. Is it time limited? Like, do they have— do they have like X amount of time to spend the funds? No, it's been at least 3 years now. Wow, okay.

So they don't— there's not a— the money's being held for them. So there's not a time limit. Okay, got it. There you go. Just a follow-up question to that, with the letters that we send out to the, uh, to the community councils, um, I don't know if it's included in the template, I can't remember, I don't believe so, but the actual naming process, um, like the steps to the naming process so that they have like a background in in that?

I'm not sure if it's like in a, like an additional document that is sent to them on top of the letter proposal, just so that they have that in like as a future, like a, like a future document or resource in case they, they actually as a council want to see that. I don't know if we have any kind of a template document. I would, I would assume in the letter we would include the noticing requirements and the requirement to hold a public hearing. But we could consider developing a document to routinely send with those notices on how the process works.

Is that something others would be interested in or find useful? Yeah, I think so. I think so, Kevin. Anybody want to take— volunteer to take a stab at developing it? I thought that we had something already.

There's something on our website. There is, so that's why I was wondering if we wanted it to be the page that is the one that has the, um, like the application page. It's like the Public Naming Commission submittal requirements, um, page. I don't know if like that would be like a good addition to like include with the, um, with the letter that is sent to the community councils, or if there's something else that you're thinking of. Uh, Jenny?

No, I think that's what I was thinking. I don't know if that document actually outlines the step-by-step process.

It kind of does, it just doesn't do it in a like bulleted list. It's in a narrative form, and then it has key elements of a good narrative statement, so it does give them some direction on how to apply and what to include. In the application. However, it does not have like a step-by-step, as you mentioned, Darryl. So I think that maybe we could take a stab at it.

I think it would be a pretty simple document. The requirements are actually— the process is actually not very complicated.

Um, I can just type— I can type something up for us and have that ready at our, at our next meeting. Um, Um, our new member that's in the room, and I'm so sorry, I'm terrible with names, um, uh, I know that you said that you've, you've had a lot of other experience on boards. Do you feel like this is something that would be— that would be helpful or useful if we're sending out to community councils to help them understand the process themselves as we're sending those letters, uh, letting them know about the name change proposal? Um, I think the more information you can give to community councils, it's very useful. Um, today.

Yeah, I can get something typed up for us and sent over for our next— for our next meeting, for, uh, before— so they can get sent out with like the minutes and stuff.

I guess one thing that's missing from the narrative statement is I don't see any mention in the narrative statement about the memorial that is currently funded but not created. No, um, and so I feel like that's a missing piece, that you have this memorial that is looking for a home for the last 3 years, um, and, you know, to make that connection that we made verbally but isn't necessarily in the documents that people going to the public hearing would know. I can ask that too. Submit something regarding the memorial, or they can discuss it at the hearing too. And forgive me, I'm still a little unsure about— are we going to suggest that they rename the entire park, or, um, or we, we just need to chat with the park— the Parks and Rec Department to see if we can rename something inside the park, or is— are we kind of doing both things?

I think we need to check with Parks and Rec first to see how that works. Um, I know you can name like gardens within a park or a plaza or, you know, certain elements within a park, but I'm not sure how it would work just to rename a portion of a dedicated park.

I, I'm not sure if we could legally do that, or if they would have to create a separate park. Um, I think it's important to engage the Parks and Rec team. This is their park. I think they should know that this has been proposed. Um, yeah, because we only have a once-a-year meeting with them, and we had it, what, November or October?

So it seems like we also have to notice them, or—. Well, any proposed naming of a park or renaming of a park has to also go to the Parks and Rec Commission before we take final action on voting or recommendation. Can we send it to them before public hearing, or is it after the public hearing? We could, once we clarify if it's going to be the whole park or, or some park, we can send it to— anything else on this proposal?

I just want to review the action items, if you wouldn't mind going back over those. I have a, I have a list for myself, but just to make sure that I have them, I have them all listed out.

You are going to work on the bullet point document. I'm going to reach out to Parks and Rec to ask them about naming a portion or all of the park a dedicated park, how that would work. And you're going to reach out to—. And you're going to reach out to the group that proposed this about adding the memorial narrative about the memorial. And we're going to notify the Northeast Community Council and see about having something posted or provided I could ask May Ramirez-Jones, who facilitates the market, to— a lot— most of the vendors have English as a second language.

I could ask her to actually draft something in Hmong, a flyer to hand out to the vendors. Would we wait until we set a date for the public hearing before we would give a notice to the community council and notice to the market. We could, or we could give them a heads up in case they want more information, and we just tell them that we will notify them, um, from the public hearing set, because it would give— it would also give the vendors an opportunity and others to submit written comments to us.

So, follow-up question, um, they are— so I, and I think I heard this correctly earlier, they want to rename Luis Peña Park, or like the Peña Park Market specifically, um, because like there's the Luis Peña picnic shelter, the Luis Peña field, and then the Peña Park Market. So they just want to rename the Peña Park Market specifically so that there is no Peña Park Market officially. That's just what people call it. So it's no, it's not, the assembly never took action to name that the Pina Park Market. That's just what they call it.

And there is no Pina Park, and they're not proposing to rename the shelter. And the, the Pina, the shelter, the sports fields were named for a local Filipino American who made a lot of contributions. So they're not proposing to rename those. Centennial Park is separate from those facilities. Those are facilities within Centennial Park.

I, I guess that's my question. And please forgive me, um, I'm not familiar with that part of Anchorage, so I mean, I've been there, but I, I'm not like— I don't live in that part of the city. So what exactly are they looking to rename if the market actually doesn't exist? Are they just looking to name that parcel of land specifically because it's currently unnamed? So if you— if you know, it's not unnamed, it's part of Centennial Park.

So in their narratives, they point out that that area that's highlighted in yellow is not what they propose to rename. It's just showing where the market's located. They're proposing to rename part of the park, so they call it Pena Park Market, but there is no municipal park called Pina Park. It's just what people have— a lot of people are confused and they call it Pina Park, and so then they call it Pina Park Market, but it is located in Centennial Park near the Pina Park, the shelter, our Pina Shelter, and the sports fields. Those have been named.

By the municipality. And Centeno Park is a dedicated park, but there's no peanut park, and the market is just the name that the vendors have given it. Yeah, I guess that's— and again, forgive me— I guess that's what I'm getting at, is that it actually isn't like— there is no official name for what we're like— we're kind of creating a new name for something that exists, but if not, they're wanting to rename Centennial Park. Oh, okay. Our portion of Centennial Park.

That's what I was getting at. Okay, thank you for clearing that up in my head. I appreciate that. It's confusing because people refer to Peanut Park, but there is no Peanut Park. Okay, thank you.

All right, any, any other discussion on this side?

With that, we'll move on to the next proposed naming, which is the Chugiak/Eagle River Historical Society is proposing to rename Eagle River Town Square Park. People— Pepplesfield, how do you say it? I'm confused. And please come up and introduce yourself. And I used to take my parents' dogs for walks in Pimplefield 52 years ago.

My name is Patty Wilson, and I serve on the board of directors of the Cheyenne Eagle River Historical Society. I grew up in the area, and I did a lot of things in Pimplefield when I was younger too. The proposal is to name— and this This is interesting, listening to the conversation about the Pinion Park and the Mok Vetteras Novo Era being parks within parks. This is something a little bit similar in that the Eagle River Town Square Park is part of a larger park called Eagle River Commons. The proposal is to rename the E River Town Square Park portion Pipples Field Park in recognition of the farmers who homesteaded and owned, owned and farmed that property back in the '40s through the '60s.

Walton Melker Pipples were colonists in 1935 and came to Alaska as, as farmers in the new Matanuska Colony. And Walt was kind of a rebel, and he split with the Matanuska Colony because he was the most successful farmer in the area, and he left for greener pastures. So those— some of those greener pastures ended up being in Eagle River.

Pipples Field, as you remember, Mr. Chair, was after the farming ended in the '60s when Walt had a stroke and couldn't continue farming. That property was the closest thing to a park that the area had. And there were ball fields there, people landed their hang gliders there. It was the recreational area for that community.

And the Chugachki River Historical Society believes it's important to recognize that homestead heritage. There are many, there are many parks, other, other parks like the Oberg Park in Peters Creek that's named for another homestead farmer who developed that, that area. And, um, we just, uh, think that Pipplesfield Park and also a monument in that area would be a reminder to the people who— the young people of of coming up of what it took to develop that area and the history of it.

Any members have questions, comments? Um, I'm curious, it might be too old for us to even know, but I'm curious what was the process of naming it Eagle River Town Square Park? Because obviously everybody knew it as Pipples Field for many decades, it sounds like, and then Eagle River Town Square Park— or Eagle River decided to name it that. So I'm just curious if there's any historical—. Well, someone did, but we have— the Circle Society has tried to do some research into old publications from that time when that was being developed, and it looked like there was even a proposal at one time by former assembly member Fred Dyson to name it Piffles Field Park.

And it's unclear from the, the published documents how that didn't come about, but certainly there was a time when that was considered. I mean, they still should be In my office, I have a book that Parks and Rec published 20 years ago. It's called The Park Book, and it actually gives a history, brief history, of every park and when they were established. So I, I will look in that book and see when Town Square Park was established, and I can probably search and see if I can find the resolution or the ordinance that established it. It might explain why it was named.

So if I find that, I would send it to you and to the commissioners, or have Katie send it. That would be great. Or, uh, Jasmine. Yeah, we always want more information. And, um, one of the things I might mention is that we were tagged into this process by Jeff Urbana, so of the Eagle River, the director of Eagle River Parks Department, when we asked him, you know, how could we go about this?

And he directed us to your new process and the forms and things. So, and the Eagle River, Keeneak Parks Board of Supervisors was also noticed with our request. So. Since it's a sort of new process, we'd be interested in any help you can give us to understand how to proceed. It's a new process for all of us, so it's going to be a good learning opportunity together.

Because this proposed renaming involves the park and it's in Eagle River, the proposal would go to the Parks Board of Supervisors to vote a recommendation on it. So, um, it's good that you've looped them in, and of course we will be contacting them as this moves forward and requesting that they look at it and that they put a recommendation. So they would recommend yes or no, and that would be part of the packet that we will send to the Assembly for final action once we vote recommendation. Thank you, I appreciate that. And is there anything that we— you would like us to do on our end to clarify anything that may not be understood?

If there's any additional information, historical background you would like to provide, or if you could ask organizations like the Chamber, Eagle River Chamber, to submit letters of support. Letters of support from community organizations and individuals are always helpful when it comes to moving a proposal forward. Okay, thank you. And we've done some reach out to the, the Eagle River Chamber and to the Eagle River Rotary and I think they were—. They worked on the original park meeting.

That would be helpful. So we— the way the process works, we would schedule a public hearing. It has to be at least 21 days notice before— that you heard earlier— before it has to be noticed at least 21 days before it's held. Then we would hold the public hearing. We would consider any written testimony that's submitted, letters of support, and then testimony offered by individuals at the hearing.

We could take, uh, final action by that point in time if the Parks Board of Supervisors has already provided a recommendation. Then we could potentially discuss the proposal and vote a recommendation that same night as the hearing, or we could decide to consider what we've heard and vote on it later. So it just depends. Well, and I know that in our area, most of the community— some of the community councils don't meet in the summer months. So, um, I am— and the Board of Supervisors draws from the community council So, um, what's— what do you think is the best timing?

That's my next question. I don't think there's any big hurry on this, is there? I don't think so. I, I think we're probably looking at fall, probably, for final action, because we have the other two that we're looking at and then this proposal. And it is a new process.

We're still learning. Um, I could see us potentially having a public hearing in September or October, maybe sooner.

Um, so you're going to prepare something for the Parks Board of Supervisors? Yes, we would sit down I think Jasmine and I would probably look at the code and figure out how that process works. Uh, we could— I think the way it would work is we would send a copy of the documents that you provide to us to the Eagle River Parks and Rec Board of Supervisors and let them know that this, this proposal is moving forward, ask that they look at it They would, I'm sure, have a hearing at one of their meetings to allow the proposers and other members of the public to comment, and then they will vote a recommendation whether or not they support it, which could come back to us. And that would be part of our consideration, but we are not constrained if they say no and we say yes. Then that's something the assembly would consider when they vote to take final action.

So I should direct additional documentation and letters of support and things like that to the clerk? To the clerk's office. And I would say send copies to the Eagle River Parks and Rec Board as Supervisor. Okay, what about the community councils? Well, because the Parks Board of Supervisors draws from the community council to set up— you could also send it to the community councils.

So the way the proposed— the, the ordinance reads is the community councils that the proposal lies within the boundaries of. You can notify all the community councils, which you get people over if you want to get wider support. But we, I believe, as a commission, are only required to notify the community council that the park is within the boundaries. But broader support would be helpful for your proposal. Okay, thank you.

Appreciate, appreciate the commission's time. Any other questions or comments? Question: Do we know which community council this park is located in? Eagle River. So that— there's a community council called Eagle River?

Yes, there's Eagle River, there's South Fork, there's—. Yeah, there's either 5 or 6, but this would be the Eagle River one. Okay, makes easy.

Um, I have a question for you. Do you plan to— if selected and things like that, does the Historical Society plan to put signage, um, in the park as well to indicate the history? Um, is that also in the plans? Yes, yes it is. Okay, great.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, anything else? Through the chair, I found the portion of code regarding the Eagle River Triviak Park and Recreational Service Area Board.

It says the commission shall request an advisory opinion from the board.

Thank you. Okay, and we could actually do that ahead of even scheduling a public hearing. So I, I think that's a good idea if we get their recommendation before we even schedule the hearing. We just send them the nomination packet it. And then you— they may ask for a presentation, one of us to be present at their meetings, but I'm sure they would also request that you be there and they hear from the public.

And then they would vote their recommendation and would come to us. So that would be great if we get that out of the way. All right, thank you. Appreciate your time and attention. Thank you.

I appreciate your patience with—. Sorry, just, I just want One more thing, I just want to say, I know this isn't us, but I don't believe so, but I don't know if there are like certain marketing stipulations, design stipulations for signage in parks. I just would recommend to take a look into that just in case, um, as you're thinking through putting signage in the, in the park, if there are design criteria that the municipality has through Parks and Rec. Um, I'm sure you've already looked at that, but it was just more of a reminder just in case. I'm not sure if that's that or not.

No, that's a good point. They do have— Parks and Rec does have criteria for signs in public parks. Well, and I've been all over town looking at all kinds of memorial markers, and there's a wide variety, but I'm sure that the Parks Department has some thoughts about that. Some of the new signs are— I really like you You can do color, you can do photos, and they will not start fading. It is— they'll last more than 20 or 30 years.

You— somebody shoots a bullet through one, they just repair it. I mean, they're pretty cool, and they're fairly inexpensive for signage. Yeah, I've seen all kinds, and they're—. There's nice ones. So thank you.

Thank you. All right. So I assume we're— we will move forward with notifying the Chugiak/Eagle River Parks and Rec Board of Supervisors, send them a copy of the packet so we can request an advisory opinion from them, and then we will look at scheduling the public hearing after we hold the June hearing. Once we have an idea of what's involved. Can we also give a heads up to the Eco River community?

Yes, yes. All right, so Councilor Chasman, you and I can talk about this. I guess I do have a question. Is there any descendants of the full family. Like, is there anybody— do they have children, grandchildren?

Is there any family members they can—. But we have not—. Could not appear. They're out of state. They all moved out of state years ago, I think.

So I do remember playing football in the field. My dad bought Walt Pickle's tractor. Wow. In the 1960s, and it's still on my parents' homestead on Highland Road. So that was the center of community at the time.

That's what was the recreation area for Eagle River. It was the closest thing to a park. And you could blink and you'd miss Eagle River when you drove through.

Thank you for coming. We appreciate it. So that brings us to member comments.

Any general comments? Yeah, member comments. Um, I have shared the social media post. I am sorry, Jasmine, I just got your email back, but it is in everyone's inbox to be forwarded to the Village of Eklutna Facebook person. To the chair, for clarification, I just ask that all correspondence gets sent to myself or Jamie so that we can avoid violating the Open Meetings Act.

So we can't email all of us? So just don't reply to that email. It's a potential violation of the Open Meetings Act, so that's why we send it through Jasmine. They get a little persnickety about that.

Um, okay, Kevin. Yeah, I just want to say this was a lot of fun today. Um, now that we got the— we got our first kind of submittal, like submittals to the naming commission, and it was just a lot of fun to be able to chat through those today and kind of figure out what this process is looking like. And, um, just want to say, yeah, it was, uh, it was nice to, to do the process instead of making the process and deciding on the process. So very much enjoyed that today, and then we're getting things kicked off for the year.

Yeah, it's going to be a good learning curve. I think it's going to be fun to actually have the public hearings and hear from the public. Any other comments?

Um, I probably should have mentioned this when the library people were here, but I, for one, am excited that something is happening in downtown Anchorage that will attract people to hang out, um, for good purposes, like going to a library and reading. Um, because I have— I have— I live in Government Hill, so I drive through downtown every day. Downtown is like my backyard, and I have noticed a decrease in people being around. Things are closing early in the evening. The mall is closed by 5, I think.

Um, and so I, I always worry that our downtown will, you know, turn into a ghost town on certain days of the week or, you know, certain seasons in the year. And I'm kind of excited that something is happening, like, like a new library. You know, I appreciate those I love downtown. I live over near St. Elizabethan Church. I work downtown.

This summer we're going to start projects in Paratroopidge Park next to the old City Hall and Town Square Park. I think there's $5 or $6 million being spent on those two parks. They're going to get a big facelift. They're going to look awesome. The $200 million project reconstruction project that the Feng and Sheng family are doing is moving forward.

The Blue Alaska Market building on 4th and C, they're going to start the remodel of that this year. It's going to have condos in it, it's going to have a year-round market, it's going to have offices and shops and restaurants. And there's 2 or 3 proposals to redevelop the Old Nordstrom's building. So there is a lot going on downtown, and I, I agree, having the library is going to be one of the key components. And I personally am lobbying the administration to move the Parks and Rec Department into the old City Hall because I think there'd be a lot of synergy.

And Parks and Rec would like to move there, be a lot of synergy between the Parks Department and the library to create programming in the park. So a lot of exciting things happen downtown. I agree, and we, we need to revitalize downtown. And there's a huge commitment. There's $150 million project.

It's a multi-year project to redo the sidewalks and the ADA ramps on all the streets, uh, in the core. They've done 4th Avenue. It's going to be finished this year. And then I think Fifth Avenue starts next year, and then it'll be Sixth and Seventh. So a lot going on.

Any other comments? Audience participation! Thanks for hearing us. You're welcome. It's fascinating to watch.

Thank you. It's a process. It's fun. You know, we're a new commission, we're still learning, but we have great support. Great support and great members, and we're going to have a lot of fun doing this.

And part of the tension behind establishing the commission was to make the process more fair and equitable and more robust and more public involvement. So hopefully we will be able to do all that. Um, can I get a motion to adjourn?

7. Aisha moved to adjourn. Do I have a second? Uh, Jenny second. Jen second.

Any opposition? We are adjourned. Thank you all. Have a good.