Belleville council has approved a contract so work on a CN Yardmen Memorial Monument can begin for the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre.
Monday council approved the only bid received for the job from Willowlee Sod Farms at a cost of $296,924 plus HST which was within the project budget.
The original tender for the monument, also from Willowlee, was for $650,000 which was way over budget so some of the features of the monument such as a brass train, four bronze children, and bronze ground cover were removed.
Councillor Chris Malette was happy the scaled down design of the monument will allow for future add-ons.
“A very fitting monument but I just don’t want it to be lessened in any way just because, you know, some of these features might be too expensive.
Let’s hope that the community in future can rally around this to perhaps raise the funds.”
The CN Yardmen Memorial Monument will be paid for by $216,000 in donations and $150,000 from the city’s Asset Managment Reserve Fund.
The original Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre was named the Yardmen Arena after CN Railway employees raised millions of dollars to help pay for the facility starting in the 1970s.
