Council delays vets' site OK

All is right between the Veterans Memorial Committee and the Park Committee, and pending an agreement on a site lease, the Veterans Memorial will have a home.

However, the deal that was on the agenda for a City Council vote on Monday was pulled for particulars pertaining to relocating irrigation lines, a determination of who will care for the site long-term, maintenance, which includes mowing, and, lastly, an understanding that the park will likely progress that will include more tree-planting, a berm and other changes.

“The decision to pull it off the agenda, was mine,” Mayor Doug Roll said. “There are just some things we want to work out before we move ahead. The delay in no way changes anything with the veterans. It’s a go.”

Park Committee Chairman Peggy Williams announced a noon meeting Tuesday, Nov. 27, at City Hall to hammer out details of the accord.

A desire by both sides to secure a site for the Veterans Memorial monument within Riverfront Park was agreed upon in principle last week and all that remained was the lease agreement and the formality of a City Council vote.

“We talked about working out the lease agreement after the approval, but Mayor (Doug) Roll said he wanted the agreement on the other end, before the vote,” said Williams.

“I think before we move forward with a vote of approval we need to have another meeting with the Veterans Committee,” said Williams. 

On Friday, Williams, and Lincoln County Veterans Memorial Committee Members Brent Teske and Ken Mancuso toured Site A at Riverfront Park. The site was one of five the Park Committee offered to the veterans as a possible location for the memorial.

“I have always liked this site,” Mancuso said. “I liked it as soon as a I saw it. I think we’re all just looking to move this forward and get this done.”

Teske went out to the site located on the curve at Site A and measured and staked out the area.

“I think it looks good,” Teske. “I just wanted to see how it would fit in this area.”

For Mancuso, seeing the area staked out convinced him even further this was the right area for the memorial.

“It looks like this curve was made for our memorial,” Mancuso said.

The monument will be a marble pentagon with all branches of the military depicted on each side.

“It really doesn’t have a front, but we agree the soldiers will be pointing toward the highway and (Route 37) bridge,” Mancuso said.

The Veterans Committee will sell bricks commemorating the contributions of servicemen and women to our country.

Bricks, which sell for $100, will include three lines of 20 characters per line.

An application for the bricks are available at the Troy and Libby VFWs and the Libby Legion. Also, a brick application will appear in the Friday edition of The Western News.

Persons wishing to make a contribution may do so by sending their contribution to Lincoln County Veterans Memorial Foundation Fund, P.O. Box 1638, Libby, Mont., 59923. Donations are tax-deductible.