LANSING | The village is hoping a sense of community ownership will lead to volunteers for a committee to oversee and help maintain the Veterans Memorial at the Lansing Municipal Airport.

The U.S. Army placed Lansing in charge of the memorial last year, and Village President Dan Podgorski and Rich Dominiak are hoping village residents and representatives from local veterans organizations will step forward.

The pair, who had a hand in creating the Lansing Memorial Ceremonial Honor Guard, are recruiting an informal committee to oversee the future care of the memorial, at Burnham Avenue and Glenwood-Lansing Road.

Podgorski said the committee likely will address other maintenance issues -- such as securing the helicopter's tail rotor and restoring the fountain on a walkway along Burnham Avenue.

"We're appealing to any Lansing citizen who would like to get involved in maintaining the helicopter and memorial," Podgorski said. "We're certainly looking more towards veterans groups interested in actively supporting the memorial."

The plan is to divide a memorial committee into subcommittees responsible for landscaping, maintenance and ceremonies, Dominiak said.

"If the mayor oversees it and creates committee heads to oversee the subcategories, I see it happening," he said.

The Honor Guard began to perform ceremonies at the memorial in 1992, the same year it was dedicated, Dominiak said.

"The memorial started out with a committee of founding fathers, so to speak, in charge," he said. "As time wore on, it kind of fell apart before it was completed in 1995."

In the past, because the village was not designated as a participant, upkeep of the memorial was difficult to direct, Podgorski said.

"It created confusion in maintenance and made it a slower process to get anything done," he said.

But after the memorial fell into disrepair, the Army stripped the Lansing Veterans Memorial Foundation of its legal authority. The village then stepped in and agreed to maintain the Vietnam-era UH-1 Huey helicopter, which serves as the centerpiece of the memorial.

Volunteers already have lined up to help move the helicopter to a hangar at the Municipal Airport, sand and repaint it and restore it with proper military insignia.

When it comes to oversight, the idea of reaching out to non-veterans, many of whom may have contributed to the cost of erecting the memorial, also makes sense to Dominiak.

"It was built with the nickels and dimes of the community, when it comes down to it," he said.