The city of Auburn wants to put the name of a long-time civil servant on the building he helped establish.

The Auburn City Council is scheduled to decide Thursday whether to name the ice skating and recreation facility at Casey Park after Michael Oropallo Jr. The former recreation director, who passed away in January, was instrumental in developing the Casey Park complex.

“(Oropallo) spent quite a bit of time and effort at Casey Park, and at all of our playgrounds,” said Auburn Mayor Michael Quill.

“As long as I had known him, he was always involved in recreation,” Quill continued.

The proposal calls for changing the building's name to the Oropallo Recreation Complex and posting a plaque to recognize his accomplishments and dedication with the city.

During his time in Auburn, Oropallo was a teacher, recreation director and city manager. He helped lead the development and eventual approval of the skating rink and he also served as the city's Little League commissioner and president of the Auburn Hockey Club.

Oropallo helped found the CANUS Games in 1976, which pitted athletes in Auburn against those from its sister city, Orillia, Ont., Canada, The regular competition lasted through 1996.

Oropallo's son, Mike Oropallo, said his father was always looking for a center of recreation where the community could come together for positive, family-friendly activities.

At the time of the Casey Park building's inception, Auburn had some of the top youth and high school hockey programs in the state, he said. The facility became the home rink for their games and tournaments.

“Sports, youth and families were always the first and foremost in his mind,” Oropallo, 50, said Tuesday.

Oropallo said the proposal “means so much” to the family, many of whom he said were involved in ice hockey as early as the age of 5.

But he also said he believes his father would be humbled by the honor, as accomplishments like establishing a recreation complex take work and dedication from many people who don't seek recognition.

“This is sort of a recognition of those types of individuals that do things without asking anything in return ... for the good of the community,” Oropallo said.

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.