The Lula City Council met Wednesday to discuss funding for a proposed Veterans Park on which they are set to break ground next week.
"We’re doing groundbreaking next Tuesday, Veterans Day; the eleventh day of November at the eleventh hour," said Lula Mayor Milton Turner.
City Manager Dennis Bergin recommended the council move quickly to negotiate prices and move forward.
"Our clock is running very quickly," Bergin said.
Turner said the project is being funded from a number of sources and will be split into two phases.
"We’re committed to $220,000 we are going to go ahead and spend," said Turner. "Prices came in so well, so much under what we anticipated, we had to look at the total project versus doing the partial. We chose the partial because we’re not sure where (sales taxes are) going to go, so we stayed with the partial $220,000."
The city will prioritize and sort out different parts of the project and decide which will be built first.
"We’re going to look at the bid package with the developer and see which we’re going to pick and choose from, which ones we have to go with at this phase one and which ones we can move to phase two," Turner said.
Turner said the plumbing and the memorial wall likely will be in phase one.
"By (Nov.) 17th we will make the final decision," Turner said.
The project, which will include an interactive fountain and landscaping, will take about a year to complete.
Bergin said the state has committed $20,000 to the project, though with the recent budget crisis, funding is not stable.
"Everybody else lost state funding," Bergin said. "I just recently received a letter from the Department of Community Affairs saying that funding was put in limbo until the legislature comes back. Now, does that mean we have it? I’m going to suggest to you yes," Bergin said.
Though there are still details to iron out, Turner said he is eagerly anticipating the beginning of construction.
"We’re excited, ready to get started. It’s something we’ve been working on for two and a half years roughly," Turner said.