The Town of Hay River has begun the process of renaming a downtown road.
Plus, it has also decided to seek to name a currently unnamed access road.
At a June 5 meeting, council passed a motion to direct administration to draft a bylaw for the renaming of Commercial Road and the naming of a currently unnamed road to the golf course.
In background information for the motions, administration noted that the suggestions came from councillors who had been contacted by members of the public.
The first proposal is to rename Commercial Road as Grimsrud Way. Commercial Road runs from the Mackenzie Highway, through the four-way stop on Woodland Drive, and ends at Capital Drive.
The late Roy Grimsrud was a long-serving fire chief in the town in the 1970s, and he and his late wife Pat were well-known volunteers.
The second idea is to name the road going into the golf course Tordoff Drive after the late Vern Tordoff.
Tordoff served many terms on town council, along with volunteering at the golf course, and playing a major role in the development of the camping sites there.
In reference to the Commercial Road proposal, Coun. Kandis Jameson noted street name changes can be quite expensive for people, especially businesses who have to change letterhead and the like.
"So I think that there should be some kind of consultation of those affected, number one," she said.
Mayor Brad Mapes said that nobody actually uses Commercial Road as an address.
"So it makes it that much easier," Mapes said of a name change.
Coun. Keith Dohey said he would be in favour of naming the road to the golf course, but wondered if there had been any conversations with the board of the golf course about the idea.
Judy Goucher, the town's senior administrative officer, said she was not aware of consultation with the board, noting the recommendation came forward from Coun. Vince McKay.
"I'm guessing there would be an opportunity for consultation during the bylaw review," said Goucher.
Various councillors also asked for a review of the existing bylaw under which roads and parks are named.
Goucher noted the bylaw was written in 1975.
"So it's probably due a refreshing," she said.
Mapes noted that many of the bylaws under which the town operates are from 1962.