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Friend’s legislation providing options to repair Cass County Memorial Center advances out of the House

Last Updated on March 14, 2017 by cassnetwork

STATEHOUSE – The Indiana House of Representatives supported State Rep. Bill Friend’s (R-Macy) legislation providing local governments more options to maintain war memorials Tuesday with a vote of 92-0.

Senate Bill 456 would allow a city or county the flexibility to sell or donate a locally owned war memorial to a non-profit organization to maintain the necessary upkeep.

“This legislation is especially important to Logansport,” Friend said. “The city and county jointly own the Cass County Memorial Center, which has fallen into disrepair. The building does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and is in need of other necessary repairs to remain up-to-code. This legislation would give Logansport and Cass County a chance find an organization with the means to restore, preserve and maintain this historic memorial.”

Under this proposal, a non-profit would take possession of the property, and agree to maintain and improve the property as a war memorial. Friend said this could save taxpayer dollars by removing maintenance expenses from local governments. If the organization ceases to exist or can no longer properly care for the memorial, ownership would revert back to the original local government unit.

This legislation was not amended by the House and can now be considered by the governor for further action. Visit iga.in.gov to learn more about Senate Bill 456.

SOURCE: News release from State Rep. Bill Friend

Editor’s note: Mayor Dave Kitchell said “I think this only affirms what we’ve already done. We’ve secured the 501c3 and we’ve met the private fund-raising match threshold for a Community Development Block Grant. But this, as Cass County Commissioner Ralph Anderson has pointed out, means that if a nonprofit can’t take care of a war memorial, local governments will have no control over deteriorating memorials and could take over one in worse repair than when the memorial was originally given to a 501c3. At some point, cities or counties – and in our case both – have to be involved to ensure that the nonprofit caring for a war memorial is able to do it and performing that task.”

Cass County Online