DALEVILLE, Ala. (WDHN) — Prior to the re-branding of Fort Rucker to Fort Novosel in April, Daleville’s motto was the “Gateway to Fort Rucker”.

One of the most expensive changes to rename is the city’s downtown water tower. But, its mayor now says there may be a cheaper alternative.

Daleville Mayor Jayme Stayton says it would cost around $300,000 dollars to repaint the entire downtown water tower, and change the slogan “Gateway to ft. Rucker” to “Gateway to Fort Novosel”.

But now, Stayton says he’s talking to some sign painters who believe they can simply change the lettering place “Gateway to Fort Novosel” on both sides of the tower. That price would be doable at around $50,000.

“So what we’re going to try and do is take out Fort Rucker and put Novosel. But that alone costs 25,000 for each side. And we have some other things that need to be rebranded so we’re trying to get up with Congress and our representatives and see if there’s money for it.” Stayton says.

Since the name changed a few months ago, Mayor Stayton says he’s been working with government officials trying to come up with the money to rebrand from “Gateway to Fort Rucker” to “Gateway to Fort Novosel.”

During the renaming of Fort Rucker and eight other military installations bearing the names of Confederate heroes, Congress didn’t allocate any funds to the respective communities for the re-branding.

The mayor plans to lobby Alabama’s Second District Congressman Barry Moore for some financial help.

“Daleville can’t afford it right now if we can’t get any help then we’ll have to try and budget it in October. It’s going to happen it just won’t happen overnight. We do plan on changing everything to Fort Novosel, so bear with us people,” says Stayton.

Mayor Stayton hopes to get price estimates for changing the re-branding of the water tower to Fort Novosel, and soon present it to the Daleville City Council for their consideration.