The City of Bridgeport’s Veteran’s Memorial has hit a bit of a snag. And it’s a financial one.

 

Earlier this week, Council was told that the low bid received to do the work needed to completely finish the project just off of U.S. Route 50 and Main Street across from All Saints Catholic Church would put the project more than  $50,000 over budget.

 

City Clerk Andrea Kerr said that Assistant City Manager Jimmy Smith briefed Council on the project during Monday’s work session. Kerr said he city actually received three bids for the work – two around $95,000 and another at roughly $160,000 – to do the project. If the city would have accepted the bid at Monday’s meeting, that would have placed the project over budget.

 

Smith was hoping costs on the project could be scaled back by having staff from Bridgeport Parks and Recreation, Public Works  or perhaps both could scale the cost down. However, due to the magnitude of the project and the weight of the materials involved, that was determined not to be a feasible option.

 

Kerr said the project has some components, such as moving 8,000 pound granite slabs, which require special training. Smith said there were five slabs involved in this project. The cost for the pylons are roughly $80,000.

 

With that in mind, Council discussed options on how to move the project forward. The option Council did not seem inclined to entertain was to find sponsorships or public donations to cover the shortfall. The other was to take the money out of general fund.

 

Kerr said that City Manager Kim Haws informed those gathered that City Finance Director Monica Musgrave was able to identify unassigned interest earnings that could cover the shortfall. Smith said the earnings are from the general fund.

 

Council will take the matter up Friday at noon to move forward on the project as soon as possible. Richard “Dick” Forren, the city resident who is with Fairmont’s Omni Associates and designed the memorial, is expected to be in attendance at the noon meeting to help discuss the issue. Council members seemed inclined to go the route of designating the interest earnings toward the project to have it done by Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

 

If the project is completed by Memorial Day, it will be finished almost a year to the day that the groundbreaking ceremony was held. That ceremony was held May 19 of last year.

 

More on Friday's special City Council meeting later today on Connect-Bridgeport.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows the rendering of the memorial on display at last year's groundbreaking, while Parks and Recreation Director Don Burton, left, talks with Architect Richard "Dick" Forren below at the ceremony in May of 2015.