In Wellesley, the name remains the same, but contest will see a new logo put in place
WHAT’S IN A NAME? History. And some big savings.
That being the case, Wellesley will remain the official moniker of both the township and the village.
Councillors meeting Tuesday night deemed a proposed name change too costly and complicated, but backed a plan to develop a new logo for the township. Wellesley residents will have a chance to submit a design to replace the corporate seal currently used on township vehicles and signs.
While investigating the feasibility of a name change, staff reached out to other municipalities to draw on their experience with a branding overhaul, and only Selwyn Township, just north of Peterborough, responded. It cost Selwyn nearly $55,000 to change their name from Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield Township in 2012.
Staff noted that it would cost significantly more for Wellesley to make the same changes – at least $80,000.
The idea to change the name was dropped, but further discussion was had regarding the logo contest versus the township’s current crest.
“The crest is what we currently have, and we are keeping the crest,” said CAO Rik Louwagie. “The crest is our corporate seal. So to scrap it all, I don’t think it makes sense. It should be kept for legal purposes.”
Louwagie mentioned that the current seal was very small, and hard to recognize outside of the township. The idea is to make the township more recognizable outside of its borders.
“Everybody local knows what our crest is now, but all of us as staff get it when we got to conferences or wherever, people look at the crest and ask, ‘where are you from?’ They have to get right in there until they can actually read that it says Township of Wellesley,” he said.
Council has decided to go ahead with the new logo contest, earmarking $1,000 from the community involvement events budget for the winning design, as well as up to $2,000 for professional graphic design services.
More details on the contest will be discussed at future council meetings.