AGENDA #4e

MEMORANDUM

TO:	Mayor and Town Council
FROM:	Council Naming Committee (Council Member and Chair Sally Greene, Mayor pro tem Jim Ward, and Council Member Bill Strom)
SUBJECT:	Resolutions Regarding Peace and Justice Plaza Marker
DATE:	June 9, 2008

The purpose of this memorandum is to recommend that the Council add the name of Mildred Ringwalt to the nominees to be honored on the Peace and Justice Plaza marker, and to recommend that the Council Procedures Manual be amended by adding criteria for the marker. The attached resolutions would do so.

BACKGROUND

At the May 21, 2008 meeting of the Naming Committee, Roscoe and Mary Reeve requested that the name of Mrs. Reeve’s mother, Mildred Ringwalt, be added to the Peace and Justice Plaza marker. The couple explained that Ms. Ringwalt had been a champion of civil rights for many years in Chapel Hill, and gave a detailed account of her years of commitment to social justice.

At the May 5, 2008 business meeting, the Council approved to proceed with engraving the names of Hubert Robinson, James R. Brittain, Henry “Hank” Anderson III, and Gloria Williams on the marker in alphabetical order. At that time, the Council had already recommended that the names of Joe and Lucy Straley, Charlotte Adams, and Joe Herzenberg be engraved on the marker.

The Committee now recommends to the Council that the name of Mildred Ringwalt also be engraved on the marker in alphabetical order.

At the May 5, 2008 meeting the Council requested that the Committee recommend a formalized set of criteria for future Peace and Justice honorees to put in writing for future reference. At the Committee’s May 21 meeting, it was the consensus of the Committee to recommend to the Council that the Council Procedures Manual be amended by adding a section to the Naming Committee policies specifically outlining the criteria for the Peace and Justice Marker as follows:

• Once a year, the Naming Committee may bring forward to the Council for consideration the names of persons nominated to be honored on the Peace and Justice Plaza marker.
• Nominees for the Peace and Justice Plaza marker must be deceased.
• Nominees must have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to furthering the causes of peace and justice in Chapel Hill.

Adoption of the attached resolutions would approve adding Ms. Ringwalt’s name to the Peace and Justice marker, and give approval to amend the Naming Committee policy in the Council Procedures Manual to include the above criteria for the Peace and Justice Plaza marker.

ATTACHMENTS

1.         Naming Committee Quick Report (p. 5).