After Mayor Tom Leppert and other council members offered assurances Thursday that City Hall was not yet taking steps to rename Young Street for civil rights leader César Chávez, city staff began posting signs along the street Friday announcing a plan to do exactly that.

The signs began going up because the staff received a memo Wednesday signed by the council's three Hispanic members, Steve Salazar, Delia Jasso and Pauline Medrano, instructing them to begin the process of changing Young Street's name.

But Leppert and other council members said they were not informed of either the memo or the posting of the signs along Young – even after they had said publicly that renaming Young was just one of many options being discussed informally.

A frustrated Leppert said Friday that he was unaware things had progressed to the point they had.

"I did not know about the memo, and I certainly did not know about those signs," Leppert said.

He added that despite his concerns about the city's handling of the process so far, his position on renaming a street for Chávez has not changed.

"I still don't look at this as the beginning of the process," said Leppert, who wants to examine an array of options to honor not only Chávez but local Hispanic leaders as well.

On Friday afternoon, Salazar explained that even he wasn't aware the staff had taken official steps toward renaming Young.

He said an assistant in his office forwarded the memo to staff without his knowledge, not understanding that he intended to hold the memo until he discussed the name change plan with Leppert and other council colleagues.

"It was signed on Wednesday, but it was supposed to be held," he said.

Staff was "just reacting to the memo that was turned in" when it began posting signs along Young, he said.

He did not offer to withdraw the memo but said he would meet with Leppert as planned to discuss other options.

That drew a sharp response from council member Ron Natinsky, who has been skeptical of the plan to rename Young since it was first made public earlier this week.

"I think they ought to go out and jerk up those signs right now until the formal process has been followed," he said, suggesting that he found Salazar's explanation wanting.

"It amazes me it's worked its way through the various departments so quickly when other things we are wanting to get done promptly are so hard to accomplish," he said.

Council member Angela Hunt said she too was surprised to learn the staff was taking steps to begin the renaming process.

"If this was a mistake, the signs need to come down until the process moves forward formally," she said.

Said Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway: "I'm very shocked, and I think other council members feel the same. In the future, you can believe stuff like this isn't going to happen."

City Manager Mary Suhm said her staff properly followed the city's street renaming ordinance, which requires city employees to begin the process upon request from three council members.

But she said it could have been handled better.

"We should have been more sensitive in notifying the council about this process. We should have recognized there was a greater sensitivity about this issue," she said.