Plans for a veterans memorial at the Golden Belt Memorial Park, located north of Great Bend, have been put on hold while the bids for construction are sent back to the Memorial Parks Advisory Committee, the Barton County Commission decided Monday.
Commissioners discussed possible confusion about which of the vendors that bid the project actually had the low bid.
It was suggested that one, which was almost $10,000 lower than the next bid, had not included everything that had to be done, but that vendor told commissioners at the meeting Monday that his bid did include all of the work.
At issue is the monument work for a veterans memorial that will include several stone markers that will feature crests for the different branches of the armed services and will also provide room for the names of Barton County veterans to be inscribed.
While the cost of having the veterans’ names added has not been determined, and while that will not be part of this initial bid, the proposals did include other inscription work.
It was suggested that the Memorial Parks Advisory Committee hold another meeting to go over the bids again and that the date and time for that meeting be provided to the vendors so that any that are interested can attend.
County Administrator Richard Boeckman told the commissioners he would make sure the vendors are aware of the meeting.
After the issue has been addressed by the committee, it will return to the commission for final action.
The veterans memorial will also require the installation of a concrete platform to hold the currently-planned markers and possibly to have more added later as more room for names is needed.
There will also be several flag poles included in the memorial, erected so that they can fly flags representing each of the service branches with a national flag in the midst.
It has been estimated that the county veteran memorial project will cost more than $50,000.
Commissioner Kenny Schremmer announced Monday that has two constituents who are interested in donating $10,000 each for the project. There was also discussion about the county veteran organizations helping.
And Boeckman noted earlier that the county is interested in other local residents being part of the project. Anyone wanting to donate can contact the administration office, 793-1800.
Road and Bridge Director Dale Phillips, who has overseen the project, noted that there are several components to the veterans  memorial, include flag poles, a central monument that will feature emblems for each branch of service and other markers that will provide space for veterans’ names to be displayed.
There will be a price for names to be added to the markers, though that has not been set yet.
The total cost for the project is expected to be about $55,000, so help is being sought for the public project.