Council debates country club name
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on August 20, 2015 1:46 PM
The Goldsboro City Council has not been able to agree on a new name for the former Goldsboro Country Club. Renaming the facility was discussed during the council's work session Monday night, and the council was split down the middle on a new name.
Parks and Recreation Director Scott Barnard provided five final options for the name of the club: The Goldsboro Golf and Special Events Center, The City Club, The Boro's, The Goldsboro Special Events Center and The Eagles Nest Golf and Events Center.
But Barnard suggested going with a different name from any of those options, suggesting that the city rename the club The Goldsboro Events Center because it is a name that is easy to market to the public.
"By keeping it something simple like The Goldsboro Events Center, that explains to folks right out of the gate what it is, and it has some similarities obviously with the former club name and we feel like it gives us a good ability to market the space," Barnard said. "It'll fit neatly on invitations as well."
The need to come to a consensus on a new name for the club is crucial, Barnard and several council members said, because as renovations on the club begin, phone calls are starting to come in inquiring about using the club when it is complete, and the city needs to start marketing it sooner rather than later.
Several council members expressed their desire to include the late Mayor Hal Plonk's name in the new club name.
"I suggested in the very beginning that we look at naming the golf club after one of the finest mayors that has ever served the city of Goldsboro, and that's Mayor Plonk," Councilman William Goodman said.
Council member Charles Williams echoed Goodman's sentiments about naming the club after Plonk, who died in 2001.
"I think Mayor Hal Plonk did very extensive and valuable work for the city of Goldsboro, and he was pro-Goldsboro, so I'd like to have Plonk Events Center," Williams said.
Barnard said he would be happy to look at naming the club after an individual as suggested by Goodman and Williams, but added that it would make the club difficult to market.
"The name we're presenting to you all definitely does not have to be the name, but we felt like it best captured what the facility is and allowed us to not have to explain what the facility is every time we answer the phone," Barnard said. "There were suggestions like The City Club, The Boro's and then obviously naming it after individuals, whether it be the Mayor Plonk Club, or the Mayor Plonk Special Events Center, but our recommendation was, just for simplicity, to keep it something that would squeeze neatly onto invitations and hopefully prevent there being a lot of confusion in the community as to what the facility is."
Council member Gene Aycock said he agreed that Plonk needed something named in his honor, but said he was not sure that naming the club after Plonk was the best choice. He suggested naming the new downtown fountain that has been placed in the Walnut Street traffic circle after the late mayor.
"I believe he'd be embarrassed," Goodman said in response to Aycock's suggestion.
Mayor Pro-Tem Chuck Allen said he supported keeping the name to something simple, such as the Goldsboro Events Center.
"If you want to name something after him I think we could name (city hall) the Hal K. Plonk City Hall, or other buildings that are more governmental buildings," Allen said.
Council member Bill Broadaway said he supported naming the club something that was easily marketable to the public.
"We want to name it so we can market it," Broadaway said. "The shorter it is, the better it is."
Aycock made a motion to adopt The Goldsboro Events Center as the new name for the club, and the motion was seconded by Allen.
Council members Michael Headen, Goodman and Williams said they did not believe the council should be in such a hurry to pick a name.
"Are we under the gun to do that right now?" Headen asked. "I don't think we should, then, if we don't have to. What's the rush?"
Allen said the pressure to decide on a name for the club was so that it could be marketed, and Barnard added that calls are already coming in asking about the new name and when it can be rented out for weddings and other events.
Allen said if it wasn't named at Monday night's work session, it could be named, at the earliest, two weeks from now at the first council meeting in September, or 30 days from now at the second council meeting of September.
"It doesn't matter, Chuck, it doesn't matter," Headen said. "It doesn't seem that we can reach an agreement on it. It doesn't seem that we can reach a consensus on it."
Following Headen's comments, Mayor Al King suggested tabling the item for a later date so the council had more time to think about what the name should be.
After Headen's comments, Aycock withdrew his motion.
Barnard said the department would formulate some new names for the council members to choose from, but that his recommendation for the new name of the center -- The Goldsboro Events Center -- would remain the same when he presents the new options to the council at their next meeting.