By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

VERSAILLES — Members from the Versailles Vets Club discussed veteran banners with the Versailles Village Council.

“We have come before council tonight to try and better understand what this program is willing to be consisted of – routes, locations, what the cost is, etc,” said Tim Wagner, Commander of VFW Post 3849.

The Vets Club had joined the banner program some time ago and tend to have a wait list for banner orders due to the limited availability. In the past, they have made the banners double sided with one veteran on each side in order to get all the veterans from the area up, but there are still a few who are unable to be hung. With the new construction going on in the village, new poles are available for hanging.

The council and club were heading discussion about the cost of banners, how much space is needed, and who was going to purchase those banner arms. The main thing presented was Kyle Francis, village administrator, just wanted everyone in one room to talk the situation out, say whether it was agreeable or not, and minimize damage control.

“We need to figure this all out before we get involved with taking anymore orders because we actually have more orders than we’ve got poles,” Wagner said.

Right now, once the order has been placed, there is no expiration date on a banner, and Wagner currently has 10 banners in his garage that they do not have poles for. Due to the issue at hand, the Vets Club has stopped taking orders for the time being to connect with the council and see how many more they could accommodate.

Francis said that in the past two days, the village has put up new light poles on Greenlawn and Progress Way also now has poles available that all link.

“We can get 50 additional veterans up. That is how many we have, and we have to discuss cost of the banner arms,” Francis said.

The ability to get 50 additional veteran banners up also includes the six poles on East Main Street by Caseys to Harrison Street for a total of 25 poles to accommodate the 50 count.

The Vets Club currently has 126 banners made, and only 116 are able to be presented, so these new poles will allow them to get the left over 10 up and to sell 40 more spots.

“We currently do not have a list right now, as we backed off on orders. We are not putting anymore orders in for next year,” Wagner said.

The Vets Club wanted to touch base with how many spots are available in order to avoid over selling to those whose family member was honorably discharged in the Versailles school district area.

“Right now, looking at banner arms, if we order the 25 arms, it will accomodate 50 possible additional vets, and the cost for those add-ons is $2,681.82,” Francis said. “That is around $107.27 per set.”

Francis said that if the council does not mind, they are supportive of the project, and they want to have the banner arms added onto the poles, they can financially do it, but he also advised they could have discussions with the Vets Club about the cost as well.

“I have no concerns with the banner arms. It will take some additional time to put up and take down, and right now it takes us two days, two linemen, and a bucket truck to take all those banners down and put them back up,” Francis said.

The Veteran’s banners currently get put up in the beginning of July and come down after Veteran’s Day in November. The current schedule does not have veterans banners up for Memorial Day Services, as the Poultry Days banners tend to be hung at that time; however, with the additional poles, discussion was had about possibly shifting banners to allow veterans banners to be hung during the Memorial Day Service Parade where those lost at sea are honored.

The Vets Club wanted to see if they could put banners up running the parade route from the bank down to the bridge. Francis asked how they were going to handle complaints about why certain vets were up opposed to others and how they picked them.

“That would be a Vets Club issue and we can handle it,” the Vets Club said.

Currently January is the change over from Christmas to winter banners, they stay up until March 16th when the spring banners are up until May 15th, May 16th to June 30th will be Poultry Days banners, and July 1st through November 15th is the Veteran’s banners, and November 16th through New Years are the Christmas banners. Francis said if council is onboard, the village has the man power and ability to place veterans banners from the railroad track to State Route 47 bridge and move the Poultry Days banners over to the newer poles during Memorial Day.

“I’ll tell council that, right now, that if any of you get a phone call not liking that a certain flag is not up, tell them to call Tom Hole,” Wagner joked.

Hole said he would take care of it. Wagner said that the Vets Club would be willing to handle any and all complaints. There was discussion with the Poultry Days committee in the past and they have been pro-veterans banners for Memorial Day, but consistency was questioned about the extra time it took to put them up and take them down.

Francis said that unfortunately nothing was done during that time, so now it is being presented to council for final say, to make a decision, and to get it formally in writing, so there is documentation for when people have questions about what was agreed upon between the village and the vets.

“I think what we should not lose sight of is those people hanging up on those flags, a bunch of them. If it wasn’t for them, we couldn’t have our Poultry Days or Hometown Holidays. We can’t lose sight of that,” Wagner said.

Fire Chief Brian Pearson spoke up and said if the village is gaining 25 more poles, they would be able to subsidise what would be lost on West Street for veterans banners by putting more Poultry Days banners out on 47 in a high trafficked area. By doing that, they would be able to leave the veterans up the whole time and put the rest up during the normal hours with the different vets being swapped out each year to avoid sun bleaching and to make the opportunity of being out longer in a year more fair.

“I don’t see Poultry Days having an issue with that at all, and no effort is duplicated,” Francis said.

Banner arm costs tend to come out of the electric fund, and it can come out of the general if needed. The additional workload will take about an extra half of a day for a total banner hanging time of two-and-a-half instead of just two. The village completes this process five times a year each year. Cory Griesdorn broke the time frame down stating his only concern was that there is 15 days a year of just banner hanging.

“That’s where my only concern is that I can see everyone complaining about losing power for five minutes, and if our power and electric guys are out doing banners. I mean we have 15 days of just this,” Griesdorn said. “I think the cost is a minimal cost, and I’d be okay with that.”

Council member Lance Steinbrunner said he is thinking about all the projects that need to be done around town, and the banners will tie the guys up.

“Well I think we honestly spend more time stringing the spring lights on the trees than we do the banners, and those lights and banners all create the charm that we have in this town,” Mayor Todd Dammeyer said.

Council member Erin Shaffer questioned if they are putting flags up and taking them down already anyway, is it really that much more time and effort? Councilman Kent Paulus, said the original labor will be there, but they are having discussions about the additional time and labor with banner arm costs. He said all of which was deemed manageable by Francis who works closely with the Fiscal Officer Kathy Ording to ensure it is within budget.

“I think it is money well invested,” Mayor Dammeyer said.

The council all agreed with the mayor.

“I think it is well invested for our community,” Steinbrunner said.

Paulus said he hears many visitors come into our community and gush about what a beautiful downtown the village has, and how homey, quaint it is. He said he believes it makes it all worth while, and in addition to approving head nods, Karla Dieringer verbally agreed.

“And to your point,” Dieringer added, “We cannot lose sight of those people’s sacrifices.”

They agreed they all would never fully understand the sacrifices they can see, but also should not forget the sacrifices that the veteran’s went through that only they themselves knew, so the village could thrive in the way it is. They agreed that it is the type of community Versailles is where it is full of pride in itself and patriotism for those who enabled the privilege.

“Question,” Wagner said. “If I wanted to make a donation to those banner arms, who would I see?”

Francis said that if anyone is willing, able, and wanted to make a donation, they could message him, and he would direct them to Kathy Ording. The council seemed to be in agreement that the arms can be purchased with the intent to leave banners up for Memorial Day and move the Poultry Days banners that would be there out to State Route 47 for traffic visibility. Francis will continue to have discussions to ensure all parties involved would be open, okay with the arrangements, and it will be put into writing in the future to solidify the plan moving forward.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].