SOAP LAKE - Most Soap Lake City Council members and some residents are opposing an effort to change the name of the city's namesake to Lake Smokiam.

Two years ago, Soap Lake resident Bonnie Holt-Morehouse and Moses Lake historian Robert Ruby submitted an application to the Washington State Committee on Geographic Names, which oversees the official establishment of names throughout the state.

They asked the committee to reinstate the lake's original name as a way to bridge relations with Native Americans and to promote the site's historic importance.

Last week Holt-Morehouse asked the council to support the idea by writing a letter to the committee, which is soliciting public comment prior to a final hearing in Olympia May 18.

She argued the name change would only affect future maps and would result in few, if any, costs to the city, which would keep its current title.

"Our purpose is simply to restore honor to the body of water - to give back after all the years of taking," Holt-Morehouse said. "Like Lake Chelan and Lake Wenatchee, Lake Smokiam will be a tourist eye catcher, and the city could use the name change for revitalization purposes."

Soap Lake resident Eileen Beckwith questioned how the change could affect what she sees as the city's biggest tourist attraction - the lake's mineral water.

"We've been marketing that water for so many years under the name Soap Lake and we need to consider very carefully before changing that name," she said. "I think rejecting the change at this point would be wise."

Resident Jim Conklin agreed, saying the change would be expensive for the city, local businesses and other entities that have put years into promoting Soap Lake's "healing waters."

Conklin, who said he was brought up on the Colville Reservation, also believes the tribe's connection to Soap Lake isn't as important as some might maintain.

"How much of it is folklore that has been exaggerated over the years? I don't believe that the bulk of the Indians up there care about Smokiam, Soap Lake or healing waters," he said.

Councilman John Hillman said it's difficult to imagine the city of Soap Lake sitting on the shores of Lake Smokiam, to which Councilman John Glassco responded that many cities have names at odds with adjacent bodies of water, such as Seattle's Lake Washington.

Glassco said a more pertinent issue is that the city has no jurisdiction over the lake, which is officially a part of Grant County and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

"The town belongs to us and we can rename the town anything we want, but the lake belongs to the people of the state of Washington," Glassco said.

A quick show of hands revealed about 14 audience members supported the name change proposal while 28 were opposed.

Councilwoman Crystal Lundgren suggested the issue be put to a city-wide vote, but there was no consensus on how that could be achieved.

"I'd like to see somebody figure out how to get it done because I think it's really important that we have the whole city's input," said Hillman. "They've been going at this since 2009 and last week is the first time I've heard about it, when I talked to Bonnie (Holt-Morehouse) on the phone."

But Hillman later recalled a vote taken by the city council in June of 2011, when he was a member. At that time the council unanimously authorized former mayor Wayne Hovde to write a letter to the names committee requesting the title of the lake remain unchanged.

"As the mayor of Soap Lake, I also am not supportive of the name change," Hovde's letter stated. "While I can appreciate the 'historic' value of the proposal, I believe it could have a negative economic impact on established advertising."

The current city council last week decided to add their weight to the "con" column, with all but one council member voting in favor of drafting a letter opposing the name change.

Glassco abstained, saying as a representative of the city, he'd prefer to have a better grasp of what the majority of city residents want before taking a position on the matter.

The Washington State Committee on Geographic Names has to date received seven written comments opposing the name change, six in favor of the change and two neutral responses.

People wishing to submit comments to the committee concerning the Soap Lake name change must do so before May 1 by calling 360-902-1280 or by sending an email to caleb.maki@dnr.wa.gov.