VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach city leaders still don’t know what they’re going to do with the city’s Confederate monument.
After putting it in storage in July, the city asked for proposals on where to move it, but a committee didn’t like either of the offers it received.
City council members said the city should study how the Princess Anne County Confederate Monument might deteriorate while it remains in storage.
They also said city leaders should try and renegotiate an offer from local Confederacy history groups.
“Unless the local group could come back and give us a different offer, maybe we just leave it in storage for now," said Rosemary Wilson, a Virginia Beach city council member.
Virginia Beach received two proposals for the Confederate statue that used to stand near the old courthouse.
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation offered to install the monument on its land, but a city committee didn't like the proposal as the monument would be moved more than 250 miles away (and lose its name and connection to Princess Anne).
The Princess Anne Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans groups also offered to take the monument, but then proposed to return it to the Virginia Beach Municipal Center and require the City of Virginia Beach to pay for moving, installing and upgrading it.
The local Confederate history groups suggested Virginia Beach pay for a new installation of the monument, fencing, security, a driveway, parking, insurance and upkeep indefinitely.
“We’re giving it to them, and I don’t think we should be taking care of something in perpetuity that we no longer own," said Wilson.
City council member John Moss also balked at the costs this proposal would bring.
“It’s very difficult to think we’re going to have this long-term financial obligation," Moss said.
The monument currently remains in city storage after the committee didn't support either proposal.
“Deterioration happens quickly, on those things when they just sit and don’t get the normal air exposure," Moss said. "Then you get a big bill for restoration and we’d like to avoid that as well.”
Some Virginia Beach city council members said the city should try and negotiate with the local Confederate history groups and lower costs and city responsibility.
Mayor Bobby Dyer instructed city staff to start those talks.
“Find out about the storage implications and timelines and things of that nature, and then get back to the other group and if we can do this on an expedited basis, I think that would be good," Dyer said at a meeting Tuesday.
Virginia Beach council members did not comment on the local groups’ plan to simply put the monument back on Municipal Center grounds at Tuesday's meeting.