Sec. 2. (a) The board of commissioners of a county or the common council of a city shall, on petition of at least one hundred (100) adult citizens of the county or city, appoint a committee to be known as the memorial committee. The appointments may not be made until after notice of the filing of the petition has been published for at least two (2) weeks. Publication must occur once each week in a newspaper of general circulation in the county or city.

(b) The committee must have at least five (5) but not more than fifteen (15) members. Each committee member must be a citizen of the county or city in which the memorial is proposed. The members must be appointed based solely upon their fitness, and the committee must include representatives of educational, benevolent, labor, and other interests.

(c) The members of the committee serve without compensation. However, the board of commissioners or common council may compensate members for necessary expenses in the performance of their duty, including compensation of expert advisers. The board of commissioners or common council may make an appropriation in advance to compensate members for necessary expenses.

(d) The committee shall make a careful study of the subject of a suitable memorial in the county or city and report its conclusions to the board of commissioners or common council. The report must include:

(1) the kind of memorial regarded by the committee as appropriate;

(2) the estimated cost of erection and maintenance;

(3) the method of control; and

(4) any other matter the committee considers proper.

The committee shall make the report within six (6) months after appointment, unless a longer time is given by the board of commissioners or common council. A committee that fails to report within the time allowed is immediately regarded as dissolved, and the board of commissioners or common council shall appoint a new committee. A new committee appointed under this subsection is governed by the same rule regarding the filing of a report and dissolution.

(e) A vacancy in the committee shall be filled by the board of commissioners or common council.

(f) A county or city in which a memorial committee has been appointed may not erect or provide for the erection of a memorial until the committee has made its report.

[Pre-2003 Recodification Citation: 10-7-5-2.]

As added by P.L.2-2003, SEC.9.