A Bellevue park with a controversial title should be renamed before the end of May, and the city parks department has already received more than 40 proposals.

Bovee Park had only recently been named when Charles Bovee, 84, was arrested in 1959 for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old girl; the first mayor of Bellevue was also accused by several other young girls. According to a 1994 article by the Seattle Times — based on the reporting of a Bellevue Christian high-schooler — the charges were dropped when Bovee agreed to leave the city, settling and later dying in Ephrata.

A request by alleged victims of Bovee asked the city council to change the name in the 90s, but it took another victim approaching the council earlier this year to get the process started.

The city is now taking suggestions for a new name for the park through the end of the month. The city has already received 40 naming suggestions from about 25 residents, said Robin Haaseth, Parks and Community Services Department public information officer.

Haaseth said the city will take naming ideas through the end of April, with a public hearing before the parks commission 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28 in city hall. From May 1-10, the city will host an online forum for residents to weigh in on a narrowed choice of names. Both can be accessed at parksweb@bellevuewa.gov.

The parks commission will consider a naming recommendation to send to the council on May 12, with the council taking action as soon as May 18.

Pam Toelle told the parks commission on Tuesday she wants the park to be renamed in honor of Nan Campbell, Bellevue’s first female mayor. Toelle told the commission about Campbell’s decades of service in Bellevue, particularly her focus in the Crossroads neighborhood. Campbell died in November 2013.