Residents working on new memorial

Fort Recovery Village Council heard a proposal Monday night for a veterans memorial in Monument Park.
Fred Jutte said he and other citizens have been working with American Legion Post 345 and VFW Post 6515 in Fort Recovery to design a memorial for the southwest corner of the park.
“The last thing we want to do is take away from the monument,” Jutte said. “That is not our plan.”
Monument Park already includes a 101-foot tall obelisk, the base of which is inscribed with the names of those killed in battle at Fort Recovery.
Jutte’s proposal includes an archway in the same style as those already at the park. Seals of the five military branches would go across the top.
Cement blocks would serve as bases for tablets with names of veterans from Fort Recovery.
The number of tablets and bases has not been determined because the list of names is not yet complete.
A partial list is available on a plaque at Fort Recovery High School, though about 90 years have passed since those names were collected.
Information about Fort Recovery veterans can be mailed to Jutte at P.O. Box 89, Fort Recovery. Names and branches are necessary. Jutte does not expect to get dates of service for every veteran.
He’s hoping the memorial will be complete by Memorial Day 2016.
No formal action from council was necessary, but members supported the idea.
“I can’t speak for council but I don’t think there’s any objections to you using that piece (of the park) for this,” village administrator Randy Diller said.
The Ohio History Connections owns most of the park, but the village owns the corner where the memorial would be located.
The council also:
•Learned from Roger Broerman that he has decided not to seek another term as mayor. He said he can get a better retirement package by retiring after his current term.
No one else has filed with the Mercer County Board of Elections to run for mayor. The deadline is 4 p.m. Wednesday.
•Heard from Diller that the village government is starting to get responses to its community plan survey. The responses will be taken into consideration for a plan that will cover residential, commercial, industrial and recreational growth. A meeting about the plan will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the community room at Fort Recovery High School.
•Heard from Diller that the lagoon improvement and street overlay projects continue to move forward. Tom’s Construction expects to work on sewer lagoons soon, and Diller is meeting with Wagner Paving at 9 a.m Wednesday. They’ll visit First, Railroad, Boundary, Broadway, Oak, Third, High and Wagner streets and discuss the project.
•Had a second reading of Fort Recovery Police Department’s mutual aid agreement with St. Henry, Coldwater and Rockford police departments. The ordinance’s third reading will be at the Aug. 17 meeting.