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Somers veterans affairs requests board acknowledgement to form ad hoc committee for memorial park after $10,000 foundation award
Summary
Somers veterans affairs briefed the board on a conceptual Veterans Memorial Park and asked for acknowledgment to form a seven-member ad hoc committee; the presentation said the Greater Hartford Foundation awarded $10,000 with a one-year spend requirement and officials will return with volunteer names and a recommended scope.
Somers Veterans Affairs Director Dave McCaffrey and Deputy Director Sherry Marque asked the board of selectmen on Oct. 16 to acknowledge a conceptual Veterans Memorial Park project and to allow staff help as they assemble a seven-member volunteer ad hoc committee to refine site and design options.
McCaffrey told selectmen the Greater Hartford Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant with a one-year spending requirement and that the CFO asked for an approved plan within 90 days or the funds risk being returned. The veterans staff requested GIS mapping assistance, a professional conceptual rendering if permitted by the grantor, and that the land use director serve as a liaison to the ad hoc committee.
Discussion focused on the project's early stage: site options (the mill/grammar school area, other town-owned parcels, and a proposed location near Battle Street Cemetery), fundraising strategies, realistic cost expectations and the need for a clear charge and limits for the ad hoc committee. Selectmen urged the veterans staff to identify volunteers with design or fundraising experience, to seek technical assistance from other towns that have built veterans parks, and to return with a recommended committee slate and narrow scope.
Board members and staff warned that construction costs could be large and that even successful fundraising efforts often require a municipal funding commitment; they emphasized careful scope control so volunteers do not present unrealistic, high-cost plans. McCaffrey and Marque said they had sought greater flexibility from the grantor to use the $10,000 for conceptual design work and would update the board when the foundation responds.
The matter was informational; no formal appropriation or committee appointment occurred that night. The veterans staff will return with proposed committee members, a clarified scope and recommendations for next steps.
