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ECONOMIC AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MEMORANDUM <br /> No. 00-177 <br /> November 15, 2000 <br /> TO: Mayor Terry M. Howley and City Council Members <br /> FROM: Steve Garma ity Manager <br /> A.J. Krieger, ssistant City Manager � <br /> Steve Van St enhuys Planning Ma e� <br /> Dane Bragg, Planne� <br /> RE: .Monument Restoration in the City of Decatur <br /> Background <br /> City staff began exploring options for the restoration of city-owned sculpture about one year ago. <br /> At the time, staff became aware of funding opportunities through Save Outdoor Sculpture <br /> (SOS!), a joint project of Heritage Preservation and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In <br /> December, 1999 staff applied for grant funds to assess Decatur's sculpture and determine <br /> methods of treatment to bring the works of art back into a state of good repair. The City was <br /> awarded approximately 70% of the $1800 required to complete the assessments. Andrzej <br /> Dajnowski, director of Conservation of Sculpture and Objects Studio (CSOS), located in <br /> Chicago, Illinois,perfortned the assessments in May, 2000 and prepared reports for treatment. <br /> Grants from SOS! are structured in a two-part format. The applicant, in order to obtain funds for <br /> actual conservation work, must first obtain "assessments" of the sculptures by a qualified art <br /> conservator. The cost of assessment is covered by assessment grants, which have been obtained, <br /> and the repairs to the statues axe based on conservation treatment grants, which have not yet been <br /> applied for. The attached application is intended to solicit grant funds for the restoration of the <br /> Commodore Stephen Decatur monument on the Civic Center grounds. <br /> In the meantime, EUD staff had been working on a plan to correct structural problems with the <br /> columns surrounding the Stephen Decatur monument. The columns were "restored" in 1991, <br /> when the bases and capitals of the original columns were retrofitted with concrete shafts. The <br /> concrete used to recast the column shafts has been deteriorating since as early as 1993. There are <br /> severe stress cracks in the columns and the foundation bases holding them. A project was <br /> completed in the mid-1990s to fit an aluminum cap over the top of the columns to prevent water <br /> seeping into the column shafts and freezing and thawing. This process has altered the appearance <br /> of the columns and has not produced any tangible benefit to the columns other than, perhaps, <br /> slowing the deterioration process. When the columns were examined by Mr. Dajnowski in May, <br /> 2000, he reported that structural failure of the columns was inevitable and that they posed a threat <br /> Page 1 <br />