The city of Joliet put off a vote on a $197,000 downtown public sculpture indefinitely.

The City Council was to vote Tuesday on whether to spend the money for the “Dome of Unity” selected after what was described as an international search for proposals that involved public participation in picking the finalists.

But the matter was hardly discussed at the Tuesday council meeting after Director of Community Development Dustin Anderson recommended it be taken off the agenda.

“Staff thought that due to the interest and excitement that this item has generated it would be nice to postpone this so that the Arts Commission could be here to present this with the staff for the benefit of the council and the public,” Anderson said.

The council voted unanimously to take the item of the agenda without discussing the matter or setting a date for a future vote.

The “Dome of Unity” is supposed to be a centerpiece for the new city square under construction downtown.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy acknowledged after the meeting that their has been public resistance to the $197,000 price tag for the sculpture.

“We want to talk a little more about it internally,” D’Arcy said. “It should have been part of the budget.”

The cost of the sculpture was not included in the $9 million budget for the city square now under construction. The square is part of a larger $20.1 million downtown improvement project that includes a redesign of a section of Chicago Street.

D’Arcy also noted that due to the Labor Day holiday the council did not have its usual Monday pre-council meeting when the sculpture could have been discussed publicly a day before the vote.

The only council comment on the sculpture came from Councilman Joe Clement at the end of the meeting when he suggested that the city consider using a limestone arch still remaining from the demolition of the old U.S. Steel mill on Collins Street.

He said the arch was suggested by a couple of people with whom he discussed the matter at Merichka’s Restaurant in Crest Hill.

After the meeting, Clement said he would support putting the arch in the square over the “Dome of Unity.”

The limestone arch reflects Joliet, he said, and “would be a nice addition to the project at little or no cost.”

The “Dome of Unity” was one 50 sculpture designs the city received in 2024 after calling for proposals.

The proposals were narrowed down to 14 and presented to the public for an online vote. Nearly 3,000 votes were cast to narrow the number of proposals to six, according to the city.

The city Arts Commission then interviewed the six finalists before choosing the “Dome of Unity” in October.

The all-white sculpture is 12 feet tall and 19 feet wide. It is designed by Sijia Chen of Los Angeles, who told the commission that the sculpture was created to reflect paper-cut art and would create the effect of shifting light throughout the day.

The city has plans for the sculpture to be created in time for a May 16 unveiling on the same day that the Rialto Square Theatre will mark its 100th anniversary. The sculpture would be situated steps away from the Rialto.