Commissioners for the North Whidbey Park and Recreation District decided to change its name to make it clear to voters it owns and operates the Oak Harbor pool.

In a unanimous vote last Thursday, the board voted to change the district’s name to the North Whidbey Pool, Park and Recreation District.

“I am in favor of putting pool in there,” said Commissioner Donna Sue Holly. “There are so many people out there who don’t know we’re the pool.”

Other commissioners agreed, saying they’ve received feedback from the public that when the district’s maintenance and operations levy was up for renewal twice last year and failed, they didn’t realize it would effect the pool.

While discussing name options, Holly also said she wanted to keep park in the name.

“We operate the only dog park in North Whidbey,” she said. “Park is still important for us.”

Executive Director Steve McCaslin said doing a name change for the district is a fairly simple process. Once the commissioners passed the resolution, a copy would be filed with the county and county auditor.

From here on out, any future contract will use the new name while existing contracts will retain the district’s old name until they expire.

The district’s website, www.oakharborpool.com, is currently under construction.

McCaslin will be looking for a new web administrator service and new domain name to reflect the name change.

The goal is to have the site and name change up and running before the district reruns its maintenance and operation levy in November.

Currently, the district is without levy funding and the pool is closed to the public as a result.