Repairs to the Bartholomew County Memorial for Veterans are being planned next year at an estimated cost of $250,000 to $325,000.
The Bartholomew County Commissioners on Monday approved an agreement for $24,500 with Indianapolis-based DLZ, an engineering architectural firm, to perform an analysis of the memorial and assist the county in soliciting bids for the project.
Funding for the agreement will come out of the county commissioners’ consultant fund, county Auditor Barb Hackman said.
The memorial, which was completed in 1996 and is located next to the Bartholomew County Courthouse, is showing extensive cracking and flaking of the limestone at its base, Bartholomew County Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said. The county has a committee that performs an annual review of the memorial that was most recently done this summer, he said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
“It’s been a gradual process, but we need to fix it,” Kleinhenz said. “It’s very noticeable.”
The repairs planned on the memorial would be the first during the 22-year period since it was constructed, Kleinhenz said.
The county is exploring the possibility of dipping into a dedicated fund for maintenance of the memorial, he said. That fund, which is overseen by the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, has about $40,000 in it — money left over from the initial construction of the memorial, he said.
Work on the project could begin between April and June of next year and would be paid using county Economic Development Income Tax funds, Kleinhenz said.
County EDIT funds can be used for any purpose such as new buildings or capital projects, Hackman said. The county anticipates receiving $2.28 million in EDIT funds over the course of 2019, she said.
