What: Lake Geneva City Council meeting to discuss the veterans memorial project proposed by a group of Badger High School students.
When: 7 p.m. Monday.
Where: Lake Geneva City Hall, 626 Geneva St., Lake Geneva.
This is a picture of the existing veterans memorial in Library Park in Lake Geneva. A group of seniors at Badger High School are proposing to renovate it for their class project.
LAKE GENEVA — The existing veterans memorial is in disrepair.
The headstone is dirty. Bushes are overgrown. The flowers are dead.
It goes unnoticed in the middle of Library Park.
A group of Badger High School students has been working on plans to renovate the memorial, but the Lake Geneva City Council has sent the students back to the drawing board several times.
The students originally proposed a memorial with the existing headstone, three flags and a brick plaza. They also wanted paths to make the memorial accessible from the lakeshore path and sidewalk.
The city council nixed those plans because it believed the paths would segment the park.
The students then proposed moving the memorial closer to the lake to eliminate the need for paths.
The city council nixed those plans, too. Several aldermen said the memorial would obstruct the view of the lake.
The students were asked to come up with six more drawings that show the memorial with varying degrees of décor, from adding as little as a few plants to adding as much as the three flags and brick path.
The city council will consider the students' third proposal Monday night.
The students, members of the senior leadership class that selects a class community service project, say they are frustrated.
"(The council is) running around all these different ideas—'what if,' 'what if,'—and we don't have time to deal with what ifs," said student Mikki Smoller.
The students have been working on the project since November and would like to have the memorial complete by May, just before school lets out for the summer.
The students already have raised more than $12,000 toward the project, which is estimated to cost about $16,000. They also have placed orders for materials with local businesses.
If the city council remains critical of the students' latest proposals, the memorial could again fall by the wayside.
"We're worried we might not have time (to complete the project)," said student Bailey Strom.
Alderman Gary Dunham said the council has sent the students back to the drawing board several times to ensure the memorial is done right.
"I think what we're looking for is options and alternatives to try and keep the monument as simple and reverent as possible," he said.
Alderwoman Penny Roehrer said moving the memorial closer to the lakeshore path, where tourists often spend summer afternoons strolling, would be a detriment.
"I feel a memorial should be a quiet, serene place," she said. "I feel if it remains where it is, farther up the hill … that it's much better done there."
Alderwoman Mary Jo Fesenmaier said at the April 13 council meeting that the students should consider minimal renovations to the memorial.
"Less is more," she said. "It should be a quiet spot deserving quiet attention."
Smoller and Strom said the senior leadership group still would like to place the headstone on a semi-circular retaining wall, erect three flags and surround the memorial with a brick plaza.
Although they're now willing to make concessions, the students believe their earlier proposals not only improved the neglected memorial but made it a place where local people would be proud to reflect on the contributions of local veterans.
"We were under the impression we were doing it right," Smoller said.
"We were under the impression it was our project," Strom said.
The students said no matter what, they've made people aware the memorial is there.
"Just the fact that we've called attention to the memorial does something," Strom said. "Anything that gets it more visible …"
"Would be an improvement," Smoller continued.
"It lets people know it's actually there," Strom said.