FRIENDSHIP GARDEN
Missy Andress 859-727-7941 missy.andress@cityoferlanger.com
On Tuesday, June 17, 2003, the City of Erlanger held a dedication to present the "Friendship Garden". City officials wanted to honor and remember those who had served and represented the Friendship City. The beautiful garden is located between the City Building and the Erlanger City Center, parallel to Commonwealth Avenue. The granite walls hold 206 names of people that were nominated and voted on to be honored by the City.
The placement of names on the Garden walls were decided upon by the Friendship Garden Board. This board consisted of the Mayor (Marc Otto Jr. at this time), two members of City Council (Patty Suedkamp and Bill Howard), and the city department leaders. a press release was made announcing that the Board was beginning its selection process for nominees. The Board created a criteria list to help them in this process. The criteria included the following:
- Recipient of name placement must be or have been an employee, volunteer, elected official, or board member of the City of Erlanger
- The recipient, having left the City of Erlanger, must have ended his or her tenure in good standing
- Tenure time will consist of the number of years serving the City of Erlanger, not necessarily the number of continuous years
- If death occurs within the line of duty with the City of Erlanger, the individual would automatically be placed on the wall
- With the exception of number 4, employees, volunteers, elected officials, and board members who met the first 3 requirements will have their names placed on the wall if they met the following minimum service years:
1. An employee - 20 years
2. A volunteer - 10 years
3. An elected official - 10 years
4. An appointed board member - 10 years
- The recipient's name on the wall would be followed by his/her department and would not consist of his/her title
- The name placement on the wall would be done randomly and not by department
- In the event of a death in the line of duty, the recipient would have a cross proceeding his/her name
- A volunteer, elected official, or board member whose service exceeds fifty years will be recognized with a star proceeding his/her name
- A person whose status moves from a volunteer or employee of the City of Erlanger or vice versa may have their name placed on the wall after fifteen years of service
- In the event that a volunteer or employee is close to achieving the minimum years and becomes disabled while active with the City of Erlanger, the Board shall make the decision of the individual's inclusion.
The current Board is currently reviewing adding names to the Friendship Garden wall. It has been eleven years since the dedication.