Council member Bob Kellar yesterday proposed spending $15,000 on a statue of himself to be placed outside the entrance to City Hall.

Insisting that he embodies the spirit and soul of all Santa Claritans, Kellar said the 30-foot concrete sculpture would depict him holding a piece of barbed wire in one hand and a sign in the other that reads: “Bob Kellar Welcomes You.”

According to Kellar, the statue would be crafted by his gardener’s brother-in-law’s cousin.  “We probably don’t even have to pay him,” said Kellar, “because he has no place to live and doesn’t need rent money.”

Responding to criticism that the project is nothing but an exercise in self-aggrandizement, Kellar insisted the statue, tentatively titled “Statue of Bob Kellar,” would not be for himself. “I’m doing this for the children,” he said. “I’m doing this so future generations will know that the ‘Statue of Bob Kellar’ they pass every day on their way to school was based on a real person who was also named Bob Kellar.”

Although his proposal was defeated 4-1 in last night’s council meeting, Kellar vowed to reintroduce it next month.

“The people of Santa Clarita deserve a statue of Bob Kellar,” declared Kellar. “This is what they elected me for, and I’m not giving up on them.”