Council approves naming Munson Park tennis courts for late coach Wayne Asher

Monroe City Council approved a request to name the Munson Park tennis courts for the late Wayne Asher after a staff presentation and an ethics committee recommendation.

Assistant City Manager and Economic Development Director Cochran told the council the request came from Mr. Brad Asher, Wayne Asher's son, and reviewed Mr. Asher’s decades of coaching and community work: coaching at Monroe High School and Saint Mary's Catholic Central, running the Asher School of Tennis, instructing at the Monroe Family YMCA, establishing the Community Tennis Association of Monroe County, hosting annual tennis camps in city parks, and receiving multiple regional and state coaching honors. Staff noted Mr. Asher passed away in December 2019 and that his induction into a coaches' hall of fame was scheduled later in January.

Cochran said staff and the ethics committee found the request met the city's naming policy criteria for secondary facilities and recommended approval; the ethics committee provided a unanimous recommendation. Councilwoman (transcript: Steelgrave/Stillgrave) moved to approve the naming and authorized the city manager to implement the request in accordance with city policy. The motion was supported and the council voted yes.

If the council's action is implemented, the city will place a sign at the courts and work with the Asher family on the sign's design and wording, limited to name, years of life/service, and a brief statement of why the courts carry his name, per the city's naming policy. Cochran also said the city's policy will be edited to clarify that the posthumous three-year requirement, inadvertently left out during a recent update, will be reinstated in a future revision.