Rita Carr, chair of the Nantucket Historical Commission, speaking on her own behalf during public comment on May 21, urged the Select Board not to accept recent repairs to the Soldiers and Sailors monument on Upper Main Street and asked the town to press the insurance company for a corrected restoration.

"I would really encourage the select board not to accept the current date of these repairs," Carr said, describing the newly installed granite posts and curbing as taller, not level, slightly wider and of a different stone type that does not match the original Quincy granite. She said the replacement stone "has a much more homogeneous appearance and lacks the large dark flecks of the original stone."

Carr said the Nantucket Historical Commission was told new stone could take a year to weather to match old stone, but that the differences in size, level and color are not only about weathering. She said she had previously advocated for sourcing reclaimed historic Quincy granite and that although staff told her that was "not feasible," reclamation is possible but would take more time and expense. Carr also asked the board where the original historic stone removed from the monument is being stored and urged the Select Board to seek further work from Bartlett Consolidated, the insurance contractor she said oversaw the repair claim.

"I urge the select board not to accept the substandard repair and to go back to the insurance company that oversaw the repair claim, Bartlett consolidated, to say that the work performed by the contractor which Bartlett consolidated hired, is unacceptable and to demand a proper repair be completed," she said.

Select Board members did not take formal action during the meeting on the monument; the remarks were recorded as public comment. Another public commenter, Brooke Gibbs, suggested moving the monument to Prospect Hill Cemetery to reduce a traffic pinch point at the top of Main Street, but the board did not vote on that proposal.

Carr said she believed four posts and two pieces of curbing were removed and replaced and that the town may already have the historic material in its Department of Public Works storage. She asked the board to press the insurance company and the contractor for a repair that better matches the original materials and dimensions. No formal direction or vote to accept or reject the contractor's work was recorded at the meeting.