Board reviews proposed update to donor recognition ordinance, subcommittee recommends thresholds

A subcommittee presented a proposed amendment to Fayetteville’s donor recognition ordinance to give staff and the Friends of Fayetteville Parks more discretion to approve signage and recognition for smaller contributions while reserving large naming requests for City Council review.

A parks staff member told the advisory board that the current ordinance, created around 20 years earlier, assigns recognition types to fixed dollar categories; the proposed change would remove the rigid categories and instead set minimum and maximum thresholds and design parameters for recognition signs.

“What we are proposing is that, basically, all of those categories go away, and we set some minimum and maximum thresholds that give staff and the Friends of Fayetteville Park some wiggle room to work with folks who want to give us some money for capital improvements, or other things, that could then be approved via staff, with parameters around what that recognition sign looks like,” the parks staff member said. The staff member said the city attorney reviewed the language and the subcommittee (members described as Steve, Yountree and a third member) approved the proposed wording.

Under the proposal discussed, donations above a threshold — staff identified $500,000 as the illustrative cap for the highest-level recognition — would be forwarded to City Council for consideration, and any request to name a facility would be considered by council. The subcommittee recommended the board review the redline and clean versions and consider a vote at a future meeting; several board members preferred taking the item up at the next meeting to allow time for study.

The board did not take a formal vote on the ordinance amendment; staff and the subcommittee will return with the draft for final review and an anticipated board vote before any council submission.