- March 28, 2024
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WINDERMERE – It’s been in plans for three years, but the veterans monument to be located in front of the Windermere Town Hall has been given full approval.
All that stands in the way now is a difference in opinion about its location, as tense discussions regarding the monument during the July 11 Town Council meeting made clear.
However, Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn was pleased with the design and arrangement of the six columns that will make up the monument: five to represent each military service branch — Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard — and one to explain the monument itself.
“The designs were very nice,” he said. “Stephen Withers is an architect, and he did a full-scale mock-up, and that kind of went a long way to show what it would look like. … I was very pleased with the whole design of each of the columns, the plaques that were going on them and also the location of where each was going in — that was very well done.”
Regardless of Bruhn’s approval, other council members felt the columns, which were proposed to be positioned outside the perimeter of the circle holding the flagpole, should be located within the circle.
Although the council failed to reach an agreement, it did approve the monument itself. However, it plans to have the three-person team working on the monument revise their designs and then continue the discussion in a special council meeting scheduled for Monday, July 24.
The monument, which is expected to cost $25,000, is a mutual effort between the town of Windermere and the Windermere Rotary Club. To complete the project, which they expect to have fully completed by Veterans Day on Nov. 11, they will be asking for donations. But Bruhn plans to hold off on asking for donations until the plans and designs are finalized.
“I don’t think we should be raising money until we show people exactly what it looks like,” he said. “My position is, I wouldn’t donate anything until I know what it’s going to look like — I wouldn’t want to put my name on something that I didn’t necessarily like, so to speak.”
Any money donated that is not spent on the memorial will go to a similar cause, such as Home At Last or another organization aimed at helping veterans.
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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected]