City Council Adopts Policy on Memorial Plaques

In response to queries after the murder of a teenage resident last year and other recent deaths, the City Council this week adopted a policy for dedicating memorial plaques at city parks.

The policy establishes a three-member committee made up of parks and recreation staff members who will review requests to put up memorial plaques. The plaques would be paid for by residents and installed by city staff at various city-owned facilities.

Previously, recreation superintendent Gary Magill said, residents would bring their requests directly to council members.

“It’s hard to make those kinds of decisions in a public forum,” Magill said.

“You need to have discussions and background information. It can be a sensitive political issue.”

Under the new policy, candidates will have to meet certain criteria, such as having been a “positive role model,” having a record of long-term service to the nation or community, or having achieved “some measure” of distinction in the city.

The policy does allow the committee to consider other candidates who died in exceptional situations, however, such as victims of crime or accidents.

Councilman Jim Potts suggested drafting regulations after receiving a letter from the mother of Carl Dan Claes, a teenager who was slain in 1995, asking that he be memorialized.

Potts said Tuesday that, while he supports the new policy, it does not address his specific concerns.

“It misses the point,” he said. “In my six years on the council, there have been three incidents that I think warrant doing something special, and this [policy] doesn’t address those three individuals.”

Potts said the city should recognize Claes, Ryan Michael Watanabe, an honors student killed in a recent traffic accident; and Thien Minh Ly, who was slain earlier this year while skating at Tustin High School.