The future of the Veteran’s Memorial for Bridgeport is in good shape. And as it turns out, it’s also going to remain in the shape it was initially designed.

 

After roughly 30 minutes of discussion on the possibility of cutting costs due to the project running $50,000 over budget, members of Bridgeport City Council decided to use available dollars in the general fund budget to cover the shortfall. The decision was made during a special Council meeting that began at noon today at the Bridgeport Municipal Complex.

 

“Keeping the quality of this is important. It’s going to be a focal point for the downtown,” said Council member John Wilson. “We don’t want to cheapen this for our city, for our residents and we definitely don’t want to cheapen it for our veterans.”

 

Wilson’s comments came after Architect Richard “Dick” Forren of Omni Associates-Architects out of Fairmont talked about ways to save dollars or perhaps do the projects in phases to divert the need for all of the dollars now. Forren, a Bridgeport resident who donated his time to the city to design the project, said during his comments that he felt it should be done as presented.

 

“We don’t want to make this too cheap. It should be around for long, long time,” said Forren after talking about removing a portion of a wall, using faux stone or even having materials donated as cost-cutting measures. “If you change the design you also may have a design where you drive by it and not even see it.”

 

The Memorial will be situated in a grassy area behind the parking lot across the street from All Saints Catholic Church. It is designed in a manner that several features can be noticed prominently from those driving along Main Street.

 

The option to have city work crews handle some of the concrete working involving the foundation was shut down. Council members were concerned, and Forren concurred, that guarantees on parts of the project could be proven void if those doing the rest of the work said a part of the Memorial failed due to a problem with the foundation.

 

Once Council agreed that it should be done as originally presented, $60,000 was approved to cover the project shortfall. The shortfall became realized when a trio of bids were received for the work – the lowest two in the range of $95,000 – was well over what was budgeted. Now, the $60,000, which includes a 10 percent contingency, will allow Council to formally approve the project at the Feb. 22 meeting.

 

Wilson asked Forren if there would be a problem getting the Veteran’s Memorial up by Memorial Day. He did not believe that would be an issue. In the interim, Assistant City Manager Jimmy Smith said he would contact the low bidder on the project to let them know they were going to be approved and to go ahead and put the project on their construction schedule.

 

“We should fund what our veteran’s deserve,” said Council member Dustin Vincent.

 

If done by Memorial Day, it will be almost a year to the day when the official groundbreaking ceremony was held. That event took place May 19, 2015.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Richard "Dick" Forren discussing potential ways to cut costs, while Council member John Wilson is shown in the second photo. Below is an architectural rendering of what the Veteran's Memorial will look like.