By Trent Rosser, opinion columnist and humorist

In a bold move from the City Council, Soncy, Helium, Bell, and Arnot road will change names.

In an unprecedented move, the City Council voted 5-0 to approve the name changes. In a closed council meeting last December (during a Zoom meeting), the council added the change to the agenda. Last night, an emergency meeting was called upon by Ginger Nelson. All members responded by video conference call. After less than 10 minutes of deliberation Councilman Eddy Sauer called for the vote. It was seconded by Howard Smith and then passed by all members.

Asked about the legality of the meeting, Nelson responded by saying "The open meetings act requires us to notify the citizens when the meeting will be and what is on the agenda. Any time three or more council members are in the same place at the same time, we must let the public know and it is considered a meeting. This was an emergency meeting to discuss the reopening of local business. We did discuss it and felt like we could kill twp birds with one stone, so to speak. So we also talked about the name changes. Also, we were not in the same spot so we were able to get around the open meetings act. These roads have had the same name for years and we believe that the name changes will help the public to show support to our local friends and neighbors. As for myself, it is an honor just to be considered to have a street named after me."

City of Amarillo street department supervisor, Traft Icone, stated "We have been anticipating this for quite a few months now. We knew, deep in our hearts, that this would pass and we were prepared. We have already ordered the signs and will start the process of replacing them on April 1st."

Mr. Icone also stated that the entire process should not take more than a month to be completed.

"The old signs of that are in place now will be gathered and auctioned off with the Potter County Sheriff sale sometime in early 2022. The hard part will be getting word out to Google, Mapquest, and other gps services that will still be using the old name. But, within a year or two, everything should be up to date."

Mayor Nelson echoed this statement by saying, "It will take a little time, but with the new signage, we should be used to the new name before you know it."

The name changes will be as follows:

Bell street will become Howard Smith Road
Soncy street will become Ginger Nelson Boulevard
Helium road will become Sauer avenue
Arnot road will become Powell lane.

All of the street signs are expected to be replaced by April 31st.

Western Street was to become Hayes boulevard, but Councilmember Elaine Hays declined to have the street named after her. She was quoted as saying, "I don't feel the need for my name on a street. I have friends and family that are proud of me for what I have done as a council member. My name is with my children. That is all I need."

To some, this name change could upset them.

Did the council really change street names for themselves? Did they really bypass the Open Meetings Act to pass something that the citizens didn't know about? How much did they illegally spend on new street signs?

Is there really someone that works in the street department named Traf Icone?....Trafi cone.. Traffic cone?

For all those happy about the change, and all those that are unhappy about the change, don't worry. It is not real. This is all for Thursday….April 1st also known as….. April Fools’ Day!

Editor’s note: In case more clarification is needed, this article is satire. The City Council is not changing the names of any streets. It’s April 1. Lighten up!