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Council approves representational sculpture for police and fire headquarters
Summary
Council approved a plan for a representational sculpture outside the police and fire headquarters funded in part by a Gilchrist Foundation grant; police spokesperson Rex Mueller said the city will work with a Minnesota firm and Friends of the Sioux City Police Department on care and insurance.
Sioux City council members approved a public-art project to place a representational sculpture outside the police and fire headquarters.
Rex Mueller of the police department said the project began in 2020 with a Gilchrist Foundation grant, and the department is now working with a sculpture company in Kimball, Minnesota, to produce a custom piece depicting a late-19th-century beat patrol officer and a child to symbolize community policing. "We found that we really didn't have much public support for the sculpture as was. We have since withdrawn from that and found a sculpture company in Minnesota...that is really willing to turn this project into what we wanted originally," Mueller said.
Mueller said the police department and the Friends of the Sioux City Police Department are finalizing an MOU that will address insurance and ongoing care for the sculpture. He said the city will send artifacts from its museum (badges, nightsticks, equipment) to the sculptor to ensure historical accuracy. Council members reacted positively; one read the project's written purpose, noting art's role in uniting citizens and public servants.
Placement will be just outside the front doors of the police department on a limited footprint of sidewalk; Mueller said there should also be space for a future complementary fire-department piece if pursued. Council approved the project during the meeting.
