Groton Town Council approves $250,000 for USS Graten monument amid questions about design, safety and fundraising

The Groton Town Council voted to provide $250,000 from the town general fund to the Graten Sale Foundation to help fund a proposed monument built from parts of the vessel identified in the transcript as the USS Graten (SN694), the council was told.

Council members and residents questioned presenters about the monuments design, visibility from nearby roadways, child-safety measures and the status of fundraising before the chair called the vote. The resolution, as read in the meeting, would provide $250,000 from fund balance and refer the matter to the representative town meeting for final disposition.

Presenters said the sail component would be sited on an island near the existing veterans memorial and that it would not block sightlines from the roadway across from the senior center. "So it will be visible," a presenter said while pointing to a graphic distributed to attendees; a resident who lives on Indian Field asked bluntly, "Am I going to see this big black wall?"

On safety and maintenance, presenters said the sails geometry would make climbing difficult and that the foundation and town planned to provide security and procedures for rapid cleanup of vandalism. The presenters also described interpretive elements: a walkway linking the sail and rudder, and a series of storyboards to provide historical and educational context.

Fundraising remains the largest open question. A presenter reported the campaign had raised roughly $3.7$3.8 million to date and gave an estimated total project cost of about $6.2$6.3 million, leaving a substantial funding gap. "My name is Mike; Im in charge of fundraising," a fundraising lead told the council and described outreach to foundations and coordination with a U.S. senators office to pursue additional support. The project team said it submitted a Community Investment Fund (CIF2030) application for $2.7 million to the state and that a state site visit is scheduled for July 6 at 10:00.

Presenters also discussed earlier expectations for federal or Navy assistance to prepare the artifact, saying those promises did not materialize. They described remediation work done by a private vendor (noted as Davisville) and said a partner (referred to in the transcript as EB) used the work as a training project, which presenters equated to roughly 25,000 person-hours of labor at about $100 per hour (a cited labor-value estimate of about $2.5 million).

On schedule, presenters said design approvals are in place, the town acquired the needed excess right-of-way, and a contractor has been identified; they described phasing the work to avoid long-term off-site storage of large elements. They said the team is aiming to break ground as soon as later this year and target overall completion in 2027.

After discussion the chair called the vote on the $250,000 appropriation and moved toward adjournment; the transcript records the motion being called but does not include a formal roll-call tally in the text provided. The resolution is to be referred to the representative town meeting for final action and the project team expects continued fundraising and state review as next steps.