By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            After weeks of suspense and fun, the Williston City Council Tuesday reached an agreement without a vote to send two suggested names for the city’s new shopping center to developer Joe Schuemann.

            The two names that emerged from a list of more than 75 submitted by community members were Red Devil Square and Old School Plaza.

            The four names that made the semi-final list of four – before being narrowed to the two that will be submitted to Schuemann — were Williston Midtown, Red Devil Square, Noble Plaza, and Old School Square.

            Schuemann, who works for BluRock Commercial Real Estate, the company that bought the old Williston High School property along Noble Avenue for development of a shopping center, will have the final say.

            The process of narrowing down the names from more than 75 submitted by residents down to five and finally four wasn’t scientific by any means, but it worked pretty well. The challenge was figuring how many would be submitted.

            There was some thought of sending all 75-plus suggested names to Schuemann because, after all, he will have the final word, but in the free-ranging conversation at Tuesday’s meeting it came down to two names.

            Council President Debra Jones said a small group of 6 to 8 people consisting of city staff, chamber executives, and council members met to discuss the 75-plus names submitted by the community. They narrowed the list to five.

            “We put those five names on a piece of paper. We grabbed everyone we found in the building. Some were strangers who came to pay their utility bill. Some were people in the parking lot, probably 40 people voted. One of the five got not one vote, so that’s why you have four on your list,” Jones said in her introductory remarks to council members.

            The four finalists got the same number of votes.

            In the early part of the discussion Tuesday, Councilwoman Marguerite Robinson said she liked Noble Plaza and Councilman Michael Cox agreed. Jones said she liked Old School Square or Plaza and Mayor Jerry Robinson liked Williston Midtown. Councilman Darfeness Hinds leaned toward Red Devil Square but she joked that it could a combination of all the names.

            Jones said the group in City Hall that sorted through the 75-plus names agreed they wouldn’t want the shopping center named after a person. Jones said Noble Plaza would have been named after the man that produced the first survey of the City of Williston.

            “If you look at the first original survey for the City of Williston, Mr. Noble was the surveyor. We have a Main Street and the other street didn’t have a name so he named it after himself,” Jones said. She doesn’t know the surveyor’s first name.

            Ultimately it came down to Jones trying to gauge where she thought the council was heading and no one challenged sending the names Red Devil Plaza and Old School Plaza to Schuemann.

            There was no formal vote by the council members. Schuemann said he had no objection to receiving suggestions for names. He gets the final word on naming the shopping center.

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City of Williston Regular Meeting June 8, 2021; Posted June 9, 2021