By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — The public was tasked to name the new dog park at Moody Park, and while more than 300 responses received by the Claremont Parks and Recreation Department, Mayor Dale Girard and Councilor Nick Koloski voiced their disapproval in the process. Ultimately, a motion to rename the park did not get a second, and it will be referred to simply as “The Moody Park Dog Park.”
Despite Councilor Jonathan Hayden making a motion to adopt the name “Moody Bark at Moody Park,” which received 42% of the 317 votes, there was no second made and the motion died in its tracks. Parks and Recreation Director Justin Martin confirmed after the meeting that moving forward, it will just be referred to as the Moody Park Dog Park.
“I understand them respecting the wishes of William H. Moody and his wife,” Martin said. “I respect their decision and also feel it is important to always keep the park named Moody Park, and keep it a free playground and park space forever.”
Martin met with the city council and told them that to ensure the final choice was truly a community a decision, a one week survey was put out to the public through Survey Monkey. This allowed one vote per person or IP address. The final survey that went out to the public included the following names: Canine Commons, Barking Lot, Paws in the Mood and Moody Bark.
Councilor Koloski said that he has engaged in feedback with members of the community on the naming of the park, and he said that he found it to be in “poor taste” to name something in the park. He said it goes against the language in the deed. He noted that he doesn’t want to get into the habit of breaking apart segments of the park and renaming them.
However, City Manager Yoshi Manale did note during the meeting that there are trails all throughout the park that have names. He said that every mountain bike trail is named in a map within the park itself. Martin also checked with the organizers of the Moody Park Disc Golf Course, who are happy with their name.
Koloski, however, stressed that he doesn’t want to set a precedent where someone leaves attractive land or gifts to the city, and government begins to compartmentalize. He said an example is that the city received an anonymous donation for the track years ago and the donor requested to remain anonymous. He would not want to suddenly throw a name on that, he said.
“I hope to one day leave something along to the city as well, and I wouldn’t want someone to rename that or add different segments to it,” Koloski said.
Koloski also had concerns about if a 911 call was made from the park, saying “is it Moody Bark or Moody Park?”
Girard said that when this first popped up online, he reached out to Manale and said he felt it should be put in front of city council before any effort was put in. He said the council is the one with the risk, and they shouldn’t have been asking the community to name it.
“I just think that this was really in poor taste that it continued along without coming to council,” Manale said.
Koloski added, “I echo that. As soon as I saw that, I made contact with the mayor and said I felt this was in poor taste. It is upsetting to continue and spend taxpayer dollars.”
Koloski went on to say that he did not fault Martin, but this he felt a conversation should have happened at the council’s level if it was going to proceed further.
Manale said that he and Martin were presenting this to the council and were supportive of any decision that was made.
The budget for the 130 by 90 foot park was $64,000, with funds coming from the American Rescue Plan Act. There is fencing and a “woof fiber” surface, which is the park’s base layer. There are also amenities that include chutes, bridges, walkways, ramps, a doggy water fountain and other items for both small and large dogs. It is fenced and gated, and meant for pet owners to have a safe place to take their dogs for some play and exercise.
This project was in conjunction with the 2017 Claremont City Master Plan and followed a community survey analysis that recommended that city resources be used to improve and maintain Moody Park.
