Barton County Commissioners are supporting the choice of the Memorial Parks Advisory Committee for the development of a veterans’ memorial in the Golden Belt Memorial Park north of Great Bend, though the design adopted will cost almost $9,000 more than another proposal.
Barton County Administrator Richard Boeckman told the county commission Monday that the Road and Bridge Department has spent the last eight years fixing up the two memorial parks the county inherited when the private ownership left and the plans for Golden Belt have included the development of a veterans section that will include a monument that recognizes the different service arms.
The county sought design bids from two architecture firms, however they proved too expensive and the committee took over the design effort, Boeckman noted.
They then sought proposals for the work and advocated the approval of a proposal from Chet Cale, Great Bend.
Other proposals included one from Bell Memorial, Great Bend, and at the end of Monday’s commission meeting, Jim Bell told the commission that he doesn’t understand why the county would choose a design plan that will cost more than $8,900 more than what his firm would have done.
It was noted that the advisory committee will continue to seek private investments to cover at least part of the cost of the monument. Commissioners acknowledged they do not know what the cost to the county will be, yet.
It’s estimated that the entire monument will cost almost $55,000.
A member of the committee commented that the Cale proposal was chosen because it appeared that he “wanted it more.”