by Kristina Gabalski
Brockport village trustees have voted down a proposal by Mayor Connie Castaneda to re-name the Barry Street Park/Playground in honor of village resident John Lessord.
Trustees voted 3-1 during their regular meeting February 14 against the proposal. Trustees Carol Hannan, Margaret Blackman and Scott Hunsinger cast the no votes, Mayor Castaneda cast the yes vote. Trustee Kent Blair was excused from the meeting.
Trustees had asked the mayor to table the proposal for consideration at a future time.
“The last thing I want to do is vote against this,” Trustee Scott Hunsinger said.
But the mayor said she would not table the measure and called for a vote.
Mayor Castaneda had asked trustees to consider re-naming the park for Lessord during the January 24 meeting of the village board.
During a workshop session February 7, board members discussed putting a policy and procedure in place for naming parks and other village entities.
“We need to take a step back here,” Trustee Margaret Blackman said during discussion before the February 14 vote. “This has nothing to do with the person (whose name was brought forward).”
Mayor Castaneda said that in the past, the board has voted to re-name parks (most recently the Monika Andrews Children’s Park on Utica Street in 2011) with no policy or procedure in place. She also noted the village board voted in 2001 to name the police Department Building for a former police chief.
“You have set a precedent in the past, the Mayor said, “we need to honor him (Lessord), to not do that would be a disservice to him.”
Trustee Blackman said the re-naming of the Utica Street playground in honor of Monika Andrews was an emotional decision. “It was a wake-up call that we need to have a policy and procedure in place,” she said.
Trustee Carol Hannan agreed. “It’s important to take emotions out of decisions,” she said.
In her proposal to re-name the Barry Street Park in honor of Lessord, the mayor noted the years of “vigilance, hard work and determination” Lessord put into investigating the source of pollution in a creek running by his Lyman Street home. “Remediation is ongoing, even today,” she said.
Mayor Castaneda said Lessord’s work was instrumental in the village acquiring $64,000 to restore the playground at the park.
