[2][8] The Lewis & Clark County Heritage Tourism Council suggested they should keep the historic name and contextualize its establishment.

[10] Nevertheless, by January 2016, city officials discussed adding a sign using revised language drafted by the Montana Historical Society containing a disclaimer about the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy.

[11] Ultimately, the council realized that length of a contextualizing statement in text large enough to be legible would result in a massive sign.

[13] In the debate that followed, questioning removal, Pam Attardo, Lewis and Clark County's historic preservation officer, who had created the original draft for a contextualizing statement in 2015, [6] argued that the fountain was not "a symbol of hatred itself" as opposed to the Confederate flag.

[14] Bruce Whittenberg, a former newspaper publisher and the director of the Montana Historical Society, argued that the fountain should not be removed, as it could be used "as a teachable moment.

"[14] Chere Jiusto, the executive director of Montana Preservation Alliance, suggested it should be moved to "a setting where people can learn from our history.

Helena resident Ron Waterman organized the community fundraising campaign, and managed the process of selecting the artist who was commissioned to create the Equity Fountain.