ALLENDALE, MI -- Now that a citizen committee has recommended replacing a controversial Civil War statue in Allendale, some activists and community members are calling on township leaders to immediately remove it.

Holly Huber, co-founder of the Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists which has advocated for the statues removal for months, thanked the committee for its recommendation during the Allendale Township Board of Trustees meeting Monday, May 24.

I hope that the board takes that into consideration and votes to immediately remove those statues, Huber said. Theyre offensive and Allendale should not have a Confederate statue any longer.

The Civil War statue, which joins other sculptures representing veterans of U.S. wars in the townships Garden of Honor, depicts a Union and Confederate soldier standing back-to-back with a Black enslaved child at their feet.

On Monday, the townships Garden of Honor Memorial Committee unveiled its final recommendation for the controversial statue: remove the Civil War statue and replace it with one featuring three diverse Union soldiers standing side-by-side.

The soldiers would be Black, white and American Indian, and their likenesses would be based on real West Michiganders who fought for the North in the Civil War.

Related: Confederate soldier statue that drew controversy in West Michigan should be replaced, committee recommends

No one who called in to the Allendale Township Board of Trustees virtual meeting Monday opposed the recommendation. The committees recommendation wasnt made public until the meeting.

Its now up to the township trustees to decide if they want to adopt the recommended changes, partially adopt them, modify them or reject them entirely. That vote will potentially happen at their next meeting on June 14.

Our Board of Trustees is going to take three things into consideration, Township Supervisor Adam Elenbaas told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press on Tuesday of the boards upcoming decision. We need to be able to voice what our community believes and what our community wants to happen. We need to take into consideration our own personal opinions as board members. And we need to take into consideration whats best for the community.

If trustees approve to replace the current statue, it wasnt immediately clear if it would be taken down in the interim while the township goes through the process of finding an artist and having them sculpt the proposed replacement.

The current statue likely wouldnt be destroyed or sold to a private resident. Instead, some options include giving it to a local museum or historical society.

Allendale Township is located about 12 miles west of Grand Rapids and is home to about 26,700 residents. Its also home to Grand Valley State University. The universitys president last summer urged the township to relocate the statue.

Related: How this Confederate soldier statue became part of a veterans memorial in Michigan

Trustees on Monday expressed thanks for the committees work but none directly opined on whether they supported or opposed the recommendations. The recommendations also included adding statues at the Garden of Honor park representing soldiers from three more wars and informational QR codes to the plaques.

You guys just blew me away, Trustee Candy Kraker told the committee members. That is absolutely amazing, all the work that you did. I am just flabbergasted.

For nearly a year, numerous activists and residents have called on the township to remove the statue, with some calling it racist and demeaning to Black people and still more saying a Confederate soldier has no place among honored veterans.

The calls for removal drew pushback from other residents and counterprotesters. Some residents were concerned those who wanted the statue removed didnt live in Allendale, with Treasurer David VanderWall at one meeting saying he isnt one to be bullied or bow to outside pressure.

Some said removing the statue would be erasing history and the lessons it has to teach us.

The debate over the statue began when the Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists requested the township remove the statue. The 23-year-old memorial was one of numerous public statues and symbols of the Confederacy that faced renewed scrutiny late last spring as demonstrations against police brutality and racial inequality swept the nation.

Mitch Kahle, a co-founder of the group, told trustees during their virtual meeting Monday this whole situation, which included numerous protests and counterprotests over the statues presence, couldve been avoided if they listened to what activists recommended from the get-go.

We recommended that you simply remove the Confederate statue and remove the enslaved child and put a statue of an African-American Union soldier, like Ben Jones, Kahle said. And guess what youre going to end up doing? Exactly what we said one year ago today. So move forward, get rid of the offensive statues or, to be honest, Allendale is going to be

His public comment ended mid-sentence due to the time limit.

The Allendale Township Board of Trustees formed the Garden of Honor Memorial Committee in June, tasking them to examine the statue, and the park it sits in, over small-scale frank conversations with multiple perspectives and then present trustees with recommended changes.

The committee on Monday also recommended the township add statues representing veterans of the MexicanAmerican War, War of 1812 and the U.S. War on Terror.

Additionally, the committee recommended upgrading signage on all of the statues to include QR codes that people could scan with their smartphones and be directed to informational web pages.

Ive been able to have thousands of conversations with people that I wouldnt normally have had, Elenbaas said. The protest leads to those conversations. So I wouldnt say the protests arent so much the influential component, but its the conversations after that follow when people take the time to sit down and express their viewpoints. And I can tell you that I have personally taken a lot out of those conversations. My viewpoints have been widened over the past several months.

Jessica VanBlaricum-Miller, during public comment, questioned why there needed to be a white Union soldier in the proposed new statue.

Why is it that a Black Union soldier cannot be the only one standing and representing? Why include a white man? What purpose does it serve? VanBlaricum-Miller asked. By doing so we are still white centering, which is perpetuating the racism that continues to happen in Allendale. We should allow (Black, Indigenous and people of color) to have a space without needing the support of their oppressor.

The proposed new statue featuring white, Black and American Indian Union soldiers would have the Black soldiers appearance based on Benjamin Jones, an escaped slave who settled in Ottawa County and served as a Union soldier.

The white soldier would be based on Hiram Knowlton, and the American Indian soldier would be based on Louis Little Feather Miskoguon. The statue wouldnt include the soldiers names.

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Allendale shouldnt have a Confederate statue any longer: Activists call for its immediate removal - MLive.com