JERSEY CITY — Jersey City's council punted Wednesday night on the matter of the potential relocation of the Katyn monument, meaning voters will decide during a special election whether to overturn the council's June 13 ordinance that authorized moving the controversial statue.

The council was faced with a measure that would have repealed the June 13 ordinance. It failed after five members abstained from voting, leading to sharp criticism from members of the committee that formed to keep the statue at its longtime home at Exchange Place. One, Kristen Zadroga-Hart, said the council members who did note vote are cowards.

"They should have voted," Zadroga-Hart said.

Wednesday's action was the latest twist in the saga of the Katyn monument, which commemorates the 1940 massacre of over 20,000 Polish people by the Soviet Union. Mayor Steve Fulop wants to relocate the statue one block south to York Street, a plan that led to vocal objections by members of the Polish community in the region and abroad.

After the council approved Fulop's relocation plan on June 13, a group of residents that includes Zadroga-Hart collected enough signatures to force the council to reconsider. The council then had two options: adopt a measure repealing the June 13 ordinance or send the issue to voters via referendum.

The council's Wednesday vote was 3-0-5. The measure needed five affirmative votes to move forward. Council members Rich Boggiano, Michael Yun and James Solomon voted in favor of repealing the earlier ordinance. Council members Rolando Lavarro, Joyce Watterman, Daniel Rivera, Denise Ridley and Mira Prinz-Arey abstained from voting. Jermaine Robinson was absent.

None of the council members who abstained explained why they didn't vote no instead. Lavarro said he thinks a referendum will provide more "closure" than if the council had voted to overturn the ordinance itself.

"If the ordinance was repealed, there could still be further actions taken on part of the administration ... which would lead to litigation, which would lead to costs for the city that the city would have to bear as well in legal fees and other sorts of additional costs," he said. "So the referendum does provide closure in the sense that there will be final decision."

The committee that wants to keep that Katyn statue at Exchange Place has 10 days to rescind their petition. If it does not, the city then has 40 to 60 days to schedule a special election (the deadline has passed for getting the referendum on the November general election ballot). That means the special election could be scheduled for as early as Nov. 1.

Zadroga-Hart said the committee does not intend to rescind the petition.

Fulop wants the statue moved so business group Exchange Place Alliance can create a park where it stands (the statue and the land are city property). The mayor's plan is to create a second new park at York Street, the proposed new location for the monument.

City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said the administration is "on the same page as the council to let the voters decide." The total Exchange Place Alliance investment planned for the two parks is $2 million, she said.

"The mayor's personal opinion is that he thinks moving the statue 30 yards in exchange for a free park and a free $2 million donation to the city is a good thing for Jersey City, but he feels even more strongly that the public deciding is a good thing either way," Wallace-Scalcione said.

City Clerk Robert Byrne told the council at its Tuesday caucus that a special election would cost the city more than $200,000 minimum.

Elizabeth Cain, the Exchange Place Alliance executive director, declined to comment on Wednesday.

A separate measure that would have approved keeping the Katyn statue at Exchange Place was also defeated by a 3-0-5 vote. The vote tally was identical to the other Katyn-related measure.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.