WW council adopts library naming policy
By Griffin Beach on Monday, June 2nd, 2025 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WALLA WALLA – The Walla Walla City Council voted last week to adopt a naming policy for the Walla Walla Public Library This allows donors to the library capital campaign to have name recognition for certain areas of the library.
The resolution was originally part of the consent agenda, Councilman Rick Eskil asked that it be moved to the active agenda.
City Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain outlined some of the guidelines for any potential naming. The donation must be philanthropic in nature, the city retains the right to revoke a naming right, there is an established duration for the naming right, and recognition plaques will be subject to the city’s design approval.
“This isn’t a sponsorship opportunity, I know that came up yesterday during the work session, there needs to be some philanthropy behind the donation,” she said, also mentioning that even with that regulation, local companies would still be eligible for a naming right.
She said this policy is tied to the capital campaign and library renovations, but it’s also designed to extend beyond that. She mentioned as an example someone donating equipment to a specific part of the library after renovations were completed.
“We want to remain flexible.” Chamberlain said. “This allows our capital campaign team to work with donors and not slow down their work.”
Councilman Jeffrey Robinson brought up the issue of a donor who was not involved in the community, or whose involvement may be seen as divisive or controversial.
”I think it goes back to does the donation and what the donor is asking for align with our library’s mission, and our library’s mission is to inspire lifelong learning, foster community engagement and provide equitable access to knowledge and resources,”
Chamberlain said, also pointing out that with the policy the library retains the ability to revoke a name.
Councilman Monte Willis stated that he believed the final decision on naming should be up to the council.
“We’re the public representatives,” he said. “We’re the ones who are going to have answer for this in public and we should be the ones making judgement.”
Robinson pushed back on that, saying, “We authorize the staff to do many things that we answer for whether we want to or not because that’s part of why we have the staff.”
Chamberlain was concerned that adding the extra step of having each naming proposal approved by the council could hinder the goal of having 90 percent of the fundraising done by spring of 2026.
“That would be a challenge to our work,” she said. Willis made a motion to table the motion until Mayor Tom Scribner returned from vacation. The vote on that motion tied, so it failed.
Councilman Gustavo Reyna then made the motion to adopt the policy, and it passed 4-2.
