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By Rachel Austin

The Farmville Herald

After removing the High Street Confederate statue in June 2020, the plans are moving forward for its relocation in the Confederate Cemetery on Longstreet Road.

At its Nov. 10 meeting, the Farmville Town Council unanimously voted for the town manager to sign a contract with Stratified Inc. to move the Confederate soldier to its final resting place. Stratified Inc. is a D.C.-based company that was one of two companies to place a bid and had the lowest bid at the not-to-exceed price of $46,000.

The contract has been sent to Stratified Inc. to be signed. After that, the process will move forward with dates and details of the statue’s final move to the cemetery.

Discussions at the meeting included what parts of the statue would relocate, mainly in reference to its circular base. The statue will be reassembled on a new concrete pad in the Confederate Cemetery to support its weight. This will leave the original circular base where it stands.

“The circular concrete will not move,” said Town Manager Dr. Scott Davis. “Everything above that will be moved to a new foundation at the Confederate Cemetery.”

There has been no decision on what will be done with the unmoved base at its current location. According to Davis, it can be removed without the help of outside contract work, but he sees no issues with it remaining where it is.

Another question brought up by Farmville Mayor David Whitus was what would happen to the property that the statue stood on. According to Whitus, that is a topic that will be discussed in future meetings.