A memorial sign for retired Sprint car driver Tony Elliott will not be placed in a Warsaw park, particularly not Central Park.

The Warsaw Park Board Tuesday evening voted to send the matter back to Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer to find a more appropriate and prominent spot for the sign. Elliott’s mother, Sue Priest, who had requested the sign be placed in a Warsaw park, left Tuesday’s meeting disappointed and in tears.

Elliott was killed in a plane crash Oct. 2, 2015, along with City Councilman Charlie Smith, his son and local attorney Scott Smith, and former Tippecanoe Valley High School football coach Scott Bibler.

At the June board meeting, the board approved Board Vice President Larry Ladd’s motion to table the issue to the July meeting and form a committee to look into what other parks do for memorials. The committee included park board members Bill Baldwin, Michelle Boxell and City Council representative Diane Quance. At Tuesday’s meeting, Baldwin said no motion was made at the June meeting and requested the June meeting minutes be amended to reflect that, which the board did.

Tuesday, Baldwin said he checked with 12 other park departments in the area and heard back from nine or 10 of them.

“Not one of them allow free-standing signs in the park. What they do have is attached to a tree, one of the tree programs ... in memory of a family member, you put a small plaque at the bottom of the tree, or a lot of them have bench programs,” he said.

Baldwin said he then checked park websites nationwide. He found restrictions and regulations, but “none of them would approve a free-standing sign. Some of them said it doesn’t enhance the park. ... And a lot of them said, ‘What about precedent? Once you do it, you have to do it again and again and again,” he said.

Quance sent the matter out on an Indiana listserv “and they all responded in the negative, that they do not allow any memorial signs in the parks.” She said some of the parks had very specific recommendations, like having memorial trees or benches, but those were “very clearly spelled out,” like where the sign could be placed, waivers and the establishment of an endowment fund to upkeep the memorial. “Some of them were as simple as ‘Don’t do it,’” she said. Other considerations brought up were precedence and who would decide who was worthy to be in the park or not.

“We took this much time with it because we would like to see this happen in some way to be able to honor Tony, and figuring out whether or not the parks is the correct venue in order to put the sign or not,” Quance said.

Boxell said they want to see something, but they weren’t comfortable with the memorial sign being in the park because of precedent.

“It almost seems like it requires another committee or group who would be the overseer of reviewing markers and deciding who that is. It wouldn’t be us,” she said. “It just came down to parks don’t seem to be the appropriate place.”

Quance said the committee’s recommendation was to return the request for the sign to the mayor to explore a more appropriate place in the city. She also said since the committee already had a lot of research, they would be happy to work with city attorney Mike Valentine on guidelines if similar questions come up in the future.

Ladd asked Priest if she had anything to add to the discussion.

Priest shared photos of IndyCar driver Bryan Clauson’s historical marker at Forest Park in Noblesville. The marker was revealed in a ceremony April 8. Clauson died from injuries in a racing crash in Belleville, Kan., according to an Indianapolis Star article.

Ladd asked if some cities allow the signs in their parks. “Not the ones that replied to us,” Boxell replied.

Baldwin said, “Nationwide, I couldn’t find one.”

Priest said the Indiana Racing Memorial Association “has done this for all of their drivers that have been worthy of it. Over 20. This is the first one that they had a problem with. They go in all their parks. And like I say, if you ever get to Noblesville, go to Forest Park and look at it.”

Ladd asked if it was a state park.

“Oh, yes. It’s a big, beautiful park, and it just takes up ... kind of in a corner,” Priest replied.

She said IRMA was “disappointed that there’s a problem because they’ve never had a problem before.”

Ladd said he would be curious to see the criteria set by Noblesville.

Boxell said there’s a commitment to having the sign someplace, it was just a question of where. Quance said if the park board didn’t approve it, the mayor said he would take it back and explore other options.

Park Superintendent Larry Plummer said everyone agreed that Elliott was well worthy of the sign, but it all came down to whether it was in the park or somewhere else.

“He’s been an ambassador for Warsaw all over the country and other countries and represented Warsaw well,” Plummer said.

Boxell asked if there were other memorials in any Warsaw parks. Plummer said there were two – one in Central Park for Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Det. Sgt. Phillip Hochstetler, who was shot and killed in the line of duty; and a plaque in Kiddieland at Center Lake for a past park superintendent. The Glover Pavilion, where Friday’s country concert will take place, also was named for a couple who gave monetary donations.

Ladd asked if it was a preference of the family to have Elliott’s memorial sign in a city park or if there was some other alternative they were thinking about. Priest responded, in tears, “You know, he was so well-known. Just somewhere where when you walk by, he was there. (And people could say) ‘I knew that boy.’”

Quance said the mayor was against tabling the matter for another month but would prefer the park board send it back to him if they didn’t approve it. Ladd made a motion to send the matter to the mayor, and his motion was unanimously approved.

Priest said Thallemer has talked to Elliott’s wife, Cindy, several times. “How well-known this boy was. ... We had people from New Zealand at his service,” she said as she left.