Cedar Rapids council to spend $10,500 on sculpture

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Cedar Rapids City Council is proposing to donate a work of art to the city of Hiawatha in thanks for the city letting the Cedar Rapids council use Hiawatha's council chambers free of charge for nearly 14 months from March 2010 until April 2011.

The Cedar Rapids council returned to downtown Cedar Rapids on April 26, 2011, nearly three years after the June 2008 flood, and now is holding its meetings at Cedar Rapids' new City Hall, at 101 First St. SE, which had been the former federal courthouse.

According to a Cedar Rapids council memorandum, the art gift for the city of Hiawatha is a stainless steel sculpture, called “Fly Again,” which the council has commissioned Dubuque artist Gail Chavenelle to create.

The cost of the project is $10,500 and will consist of a 5-foot-tall sculpture, an inscribed bronze plaque, delivery and installation.

The city of Hiawatha will designate a spot for the art, according to the Cedar Rapids council memorandum.

The Cedar Rapids council took to the road for its meetings after the flood of 2008 damaged the Veterans Memorial Building on May's Island, which had been the home of City Hall.

The council first held meetings at an auditorium at AEGON USA, 4333 Edgewood Rd. NE, and it then moved to Hiawatha City Hall in March 2010, two months after Mayor Ron Corbett took office.