ORANGE BEACH — Orange Beach will soon have a chance to honor veterans in a new outdoor setting.

The bid for the memorial was awarded to Badger Building Inc. to complete the project in an amount not to exceed $561,685.

"I'm very excited about this," Councilwoman Joni Blalock said before the bid was voted on at the March 11 city council meeting. "It is going to be beautiful."

Before the vote was held on the bid, Blalock confirmed with city clerk, Renee Eberly, this would be the first time the city would do business with the company. Eberly said even though they haven't worked with Badger Building yet, their references have been verified.

"It's going to be really nice," Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said right before the council unanimously voted in approval.

Ford Handley, city administrator, said this project has been in the works for "probably two years now" after the mayor and city council have been working with city utilities and the state to determine the proper location.

"We have a lot of vets here in Orange Beach," Handley said on the memorial's importance. "We worked at finding a place to recognize veterans and first responders who put their lives out there protecting our community."

Handley said projects like this are something that "makes me really love my job."

With an American flag to be slightly taller than the one at the Baldwin EMC building, making it the tallest in the city, Veterans Memorial is set to have a total of nine flags representing different branches of military service, POW and first responders.

As previously reported by Gulf Coast Media, underneath the flags will be a sign that reads "Land of the free because of the brave. Freedom is not free."

In the previous article, Orange Beach's special projects coordinator, Marc Anderson, said this project is "a love of Mayor Kennon" in his goal to support veterans and first responders.

The memorial will be located in front of the city's community development building, where there is currently a sign for city hall. The sidewalk located in front of the city hall and community development buildings will connect to the memorial.

Handley said the city hall sign is set to be moved soon and construction is set to begin within the next two or three weeks. He said construction will wrap up "hopefully by late fall," likely around October.

"This was probably one of the most important projects for mayor and council that they wanted to get done as soon as possible," Handley said.