Kid gets new owner

The City of Sundance has agreed to take ownership of the statue of the Sundance Kid that originally sat outside the courthouse and has now been moved to the park under construction next to Old Stoney.

The process of moving the statue required a new contract to be drawn up between the city and the Sundance Chamber of Commerce. The county was involved in the original agreement because the statue was situated on its property but, as this is no longer the case, did not need to be included in the updated agreement.

However, said Clerk Treasurer Kathy Lenz last week, when the contract was taken to the chamber for a signature, an alternative suggestion was made. The chamber, she said, does not feel it necessary to own the statue.

Instead, said Lenz, the chamber would like to turn the statue over to the city.

“They don’t want to sign an agreement, they just want to donate the Kid to you,” she explained.

City Attorney Mark Hughes confirmed that this would be legally possible, noting that it would become the city’s responsibility to finance any repairs the statue if something were to happen to it, though there would not be an obligation to fix it as it would be the city’s property.

A motion was made and passed to accept the donation of the Sundance Kid statue and for the city to take ownership of it.