OTTUMWA — The Wapello County Board of Supervisors decided to table a $5,000 contribution to Bridge View Center Inc. for a sculpture and landscaping project near the Cobblestone Hotel.
The supervisors’ rationale for holding off on final approval until the March 25 meeting was to wait and see if the Bridge View Center board receives funding from several grants it applied for to support the cost.
The project’s budget is $88,500, and the sculpture will be a flying eagle. The sculpture itself is about $25,000.
“There’s a new parking lot by the new hotel that has a wide space, and a group of us believe that this is a good place to put a sculpture,” Dianne Haas, a Bridge View Inc. board member, told the supervisors. “This project would have landscaping, large rock, and this large sculpture.”
Bridge View Center Inc., a nonprofit, solicited funding from several entities, including the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation, the 2024 RAGBRAI committee, Wapello County Foundation, as well as Rotary and Kiwanis clubs. However, the board has not heard back on any of those requests.
“This is good for the whole county,” Haas said. “It’s something that ties in with the conservation project they have about eagles, and attracts a lot of people to our area. It’s not just Ottumwa by any means.”
If the supervisors approve the contribution, then it will come out of local option sales and service tax.
Supervisor Bryan Ziegler asked Haas when they might hear back on those other grant applications.
“I’m not exactly sure when the Bright Ideas (Legacy grant) is announced, and Rotary is just in process,” Haas said. “So I can’t tell you when we know we’ve got enough money to start the sculpture, but our intent is that it will be done in the spring.”
Ziegler said tabling the item isn’t a “no” response.
“I think by tabling it it’ll give us a little more time to research it, just to make sure we have everything covered on our end,” he said. “Then we’d want to perhaps put together a little bit of a condition with the money we’d give you, like if the project doesn’t happen.”
