With several projects that require great financial support from the community already on the way, Waco city leaders are opting to pay the cost of rebuilding the Freedom Fountain instead of seeking donations.

A committee of citizens headed by former Waco Mayor Linda Ethridge planned to raise at least $200,000 for the rebuilding of the fountain, and the city had planned to contribute another $170,000.

However, bids for the Waco Convention Center renovations came in about $2 million lower than expected, giving the city room to cover the full cost of the fountain, Waco City Manager Larry Groth said.

The city plans to move forward with the reconstruction of the Freedom Fountain near the Waco Convention Center, favoring a redesign at its current site. (City of Waco artist rendering)

---

“The public already gave in a communitywide campaign to build the fountain in the first place, so we don’t want to go back and have them do it a second time,” Groth said.

The fountain was built in 1973 using $55,000 raised in a citywide funding drive. It commemorated a trip taken by 12 citizens the previous year to Paris to discuss the treatment of American prisoners of war during the Vietnam War with North Vietnamese officials.

The city has other projects in which financial support from the public is crucial, officials said.

A communitywide fundraising campaign is expected to kick off within a few weeks to raise money for the Cameron Park Centennial Celebration next year.

David Lacy, president of Community Bank and Trust and chairman of the committee planning the celebration, said the centennial will kick off May 1 with an event in Cameron Park and will include several celebrations throughout 2010.

The centennial celebration is expected to cost at least $250,000, Lacy said, though the cost could rise once the final details are ironed out. Some planned events include a concert by the Waco Symphony in Cameron Park and a special kids day at Cameron Park Zoo, Lacy said.

Groth pointed out in a city council workshop session this week that the city had leaned on the public for

$3.7 million to fund construction of a visitors center and climate-controlled building at the Waco Mammoth Site, which is expected to open later this year.

If the mammoth site is further expanded with a larger educational center and parking lot, the city may again seek public donations, which could cost $7 million to $11 million, Groth said.

Groth said these other larger events could eclipse any fundraising for the fountain or could stretch donations thin.

“We have other interests going on, so it would be wiser to focus on getting public support for those, and the city can just absorb the cost of the Freedom Fountain,” Groth said. “It was our responsibility to maintain it, and it had fallen in disrepair, so I think it’s only right that we should rebuild it.”

The city is moving forward with construction on the fountain, choosing a design favored by the fountain’s citizen committee to modernize the fountain at its current site.

RBDR Architects, the firm that designed the convention center renovation and produced sketches for the fountain redesign, will draft a final design proposal before the city solicits bids on the project.

rdennis@wacotrib.com

757-5755