San Ignacio Town Hall Renamed, But Not Without Controversy

It’s been nearly a decade since the San Ignacio/Santa Elena Town Hall first opened its doors, but today, that building is getting more than just a facelift. It’s also getting a new name: the Earl Trapp Building, in honor of the long-serving mayor. But not everyone is on board with the decision. The renaming has sparked mixed reactions in the twin towns, and now Mayor Trapp is speaking out. We caught up with him today to find out why the building bears his name, and why he says he’s willing to take it down if that’s what the people want.

 

Earl Trapp, Mayor, San Ignacio/ Santa Elena

“First of all I must make it known to the public that I have been confronted by many people in this municipality congratulations my contribution to this community as a mayor and a councilor. I want to go on record to say that I am twenty-three years in local government, twelve years as aa councilor and twelve years as a mayo. Some of my councilors heard of many people mentioning why I have not named the synthetic football turf off my name, the town hall after my name. Someone took is seriously and brought it to the table as a resolution. To accredit my valuable contribution to this community he said why don’t we name this building after Earl Trapp. At the moment I said to avoid public negativity I prefer not to. But when they continued to communicate and dialogue in this meeting I said, lets go for it. So six months later we were repainting the building, because it has been here for ten years, and it has been draining down. It is a townhall and we must be representing this community, and we want to see it shining so we are refixing and naming the building. Self-praise is no recommendation, but I believe that not everyone will agree with what we do here, but the people that honestly have objective minds will look at it different. As I mentioned in the previous interviews, I will be honest, if this is problematic, I am prepared to take it down, I have no problem.”