The name debate in Dryden isn’t going away anytime soon.
Council directed staff last night (Monday) to investigate the steps and cost of changing the City name back to the Town of Dryden.
The motion was presented by Greg Wilson.
“For me it’s something that I wanted to bring up during this term of Council. I wasn’t in any rush but when administration said that it would be very helpful if we could get it in front of Council and the strat planning committee sooner than later, I thought, O.K., let’s step it up.”
Wilson adds “Administration is wanting to hurry this along, not to rush it, but to make sure it falls in line with the timing of the strat plan delivery.”
The move comes as the municipality is in the late stages of going through a re-branding and strategic plan exercise.
There are some concerns on Council that the strategic plan may now be delayed, stressing that maintaining the current schedule is priority number one.
Wilson says “I don’t think it (cost investigation) will involve too much time and effort, but administration, they’ve got a lot on their plate, so I have to be considerate of that.”
Chief Administrative Officer Roger Nesbitt says they can’t drop everything they are currently doing, stressing it’s going to take at least a month to determine costs.
He notes there will be expenses as the City will have to change letterhead, signage, promotional material and other items.
Some on Council believes the costs won’t be as high as the City is currently rebranding itself.
Staff note there is no financial advantage to a name change.
Only Shayne MacKinnon voted against the motion.
