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GETTYSBURG, Pa. — “Where has the money gone?” is Kathi Schue’s question. She is the president of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association (GBPA) and a founder of the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project.
State Rep. Harry Readshaw formed the project in 1997, when Schue was his legislative assistant. With her retirement this year she decided to answer the question on where the funds raised for repair of Pennsylvania’s 146 monuments and markers at Gettysburg National Military Park went.
She says it is of concern to the GBPA because the nonprofit was approved to handle and distribute the monument funds.
According to Schue the monuments project raised $87,785 through donations from individuals and organizations. Another $77,580 was part of a $1 million line item grant from the legislature to the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission. That total of $165,365 was to pay for all needed repairs.
By her reckoning only about a third of the monuments were done. Among those not repaired is the 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry monument for which she says funds were provided to the park in January 1999.
Schue says that Vic Gavin, who oversees park maintenance, in 1997 provided the costs for repair and endowments for the future care of each monument. This was the year that Rep. Readshaw created the fundraising committee after he became aware of the poor condition of some of the state’s monuments at the battlefield.
Based on Gavin’s assessment, the monuments project donated the $165,365. Schue said the understanding was that the park would hire seasonal employees for the year following a donation and all of the work would be completed by 2003.
The project started giving money to the park in 1997.
When the repair funds goal was reached, the monuments project turned to raising endowment funds. Schue said the endowment was set up by a lawyer to be administered by the Adams County Bank Trust Department. Neither the GBPA nor the monument committee can release the funds, now amounting to some $225,000
Schue says park officials had wanted it in cash, but the only way the bank will release any of the endowment money is if the park presents a bill for cleaning a monument. This was explained in writing and in person to a park staffer, according to Schue.
As she talks on the phone about the project, Schue shuffles papers and refers to her documentation and spreadsheets. She says she can account for every cent.
It may come to a battle of spreadsheets. Park spokesperson Katie Lawhon has one too and she says, “We have the highest level of accountability.”
Lawhon expresses the park’s appreciation for the efforts of Rep. Readshaw and the GBPA to raise awareness of the condition of monuments and soliciting donors’ help to maintain the monuments. She adds she wishes Schue had gone to the park with her questions.
Her spreadsheet shows all of the work done with $85,825 in donations for the care of monuments and memorials to Pennsylvania troops at Gettysburg. She does not have a record of the $77,580 Schue says was added to the monument committee’s funds.
Lawhon’s records shows how money from other sources, mainly federal appropriations, and totaling $220,544, was spent on Pennsylvania monuments since 1998.
Her park spreadsheet shows all the work done from 1998-2009, with the monument project donations in red. A line-by-line summary tells what was done on each monument and another column estimates costs required every three to five years to preserve the monuments in perpetuity.
Acting Superintendent Brion Fitzgerald issued a briefing statement on Nov. 16 that said the park has a balance of $9,236 from the $85,825 in donated monument committee funds. The balance “has been set aside for restoration of missing details such as the canteen on the 90th Pa. and missing elements on the 17th Pa. Cavalry monuments.”
Fitzgerald said, “The lengthy process of research, sculpting, replication and installation of missing elements is in the park’s plans but must take a lower priority for the park’s limited monument preservation staff than the cyclical preservation/maintenance needs of the 1320 monuments on the field.
“National Park Service policies place a higher priority on preservation work, and a lesser priority on restoration work since restoration work doesn’t threaten the monument and is generally aesthetic in nature.”
He said the park has received no reporting on the endowment fund for the Pennsylvania monuments, has no agreement with the monument committee and has not received any donations.
State Rep. Harry Readshaw formed the project in 1997, when Schue was his legislative assistant. With her retirement this year she decided to answer the question on where the funds raised for repair of Pennsylvania’s 146 monuments and markers at Gettysburg National Military Park went.
She says it is of concern to the GBPA because the nonprofit was approved to handle and distribute the monument funds.
According to Schue the monuments project raised $87,785 through donations from individuals and organizations. Another $77,580 was part of a $1 million line item grant from the legislature to the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission. That total of $165,365 was to pay for all needed repairs.
By her reckoning only about a third of the monuments were done. Among those not repaired is the 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry monument for which she says funds were provided to the park in January 1999.
Schue says that Vic Gavin, who oversees park maintenance, in 1997 provided the costs for repair and endowments for the future care of each monument. This was the year that Rep. Readshaw created the fundraising committee after he became aware of the poor condition of some of the state’s monuments at the battlefield.
Based on Gavin’s assessment, the monuments project donated the $165,365. Schue said the understanding was that the park would hire seasonal employees for the year following a donation and all of the work would be completed by 2003.
The project started giving money to the park in 1997.
When the repair funds goal was reached, the monuments project turned to raising endowment funds. Schue said the endowment was set up by a lawyer to be administered by the Adams County Bank Trust Department. Neither the GBPA nor the monument committee can release the funds, now amounting to some $225,000
Schue says park officials had wanted it in cash, but the only way the bank will release any of the endowment money is if the park presents a bill for cleaning a monument. This was explained in writing and in person to a park staffer, according to Schue.
As she talks on the phone about the project, Schue shuffles papers and refers to her documentation and spreadsheets. She says she can account for every cent.
It may come to a battle of spreadsheets. Park spokesperson Katie Lawhon has one too and she says, “We have the highest level of accountability.”
Lawhon expresses the park’s appreciation for the efforts of Rep. Readshaw and the GBPA to raise awareness of the condition of monuments and soliciting donors’ help to maintain the monuments. She adds she wishes Schue had gone to the park with her questions.
Her spreadsheet shows all of the work done with $85,825 in donations for the care of monuments and memorials to Pennsylvania troops at Gettysburg. She does not have a record of the $77,580 Schue says was added to the monument committee’s funds.
Lawhon’s records shows how money from other sources, mainly federal appropriations, and totaling $220,544, was spent on Pennsylvania monuments since 1998.
Her park spreadsheet shows all the work done from 1998-2009, with the monument project donations in red. A line-by-line summary tells what was done on each monument and another column estimates costs required every three to five years to preserve the monuments in perpetuity.
Acting Superintendent Brion Fitzgerald issued a briefing statement on Nov. 16 that said the park has a balance of $9,236 from the $85,825 in donated monument committee funds. The balance “has been set aside for restoration of missing details such as the canteen on the 90th Pa. and missing elements on the 17th Pa. Cavalry monuments.”
Fitzgerald said, “The lengthy process of research, sculpting, replication and installation of missing elements is in the park’s plans but must take a lower priority for the park’s limited monument preservation staff than the cyclical preservation/maintenance needs of the 1320 monuments on the field.
“National Park Service policies place a higher priority on preservation work, and a lesser priority on restoration work since restoration work doesn’t threaten the monument and is generally aesthetic in nature.”
He said the park has received no reporting on the endowment fund for the Pennsylvania monuments, has no agreement with the monument committee and has not received any donations.
