Huber Heights veterans' memorial delayed due to granite sourcing

Eileen McClory, Dayton Daily News, Ohio
·2 min read

May 16—Huber Heights is delaying the opening of the veteran's memorial in Thomas Cloud Park on Brandt Pike because of an issue with sourcing the granite.

Originally, the city planned on buying the black granite they wanted for the memorial from a company located in China. However, some members of council and members of the Huber Heights Veterans Commission objected to that, saying they should be sourcing the rock in the U.S. if possible.

The city has since found a source for the black granite in Minnesota, said Huber Heights mayor Jeff Gore. But the project timeline has now been pushed back to Veterans Day, instead of Memorial Day as originally planned, said interim city manager Scott Falkowski.

Gore said the city council made the decision to look again after feedback from the Veterans Commission.

"It was so important to our Veterans Commission that it was possible to have granite that was actually mined here in the U.S.," Gore said.

Gore said if the contractor had said the granite needed to come from China, they would not have switched. The city also discussed the changes with the architect, Gore said.

Council received a $788,000 bid to build the memorial park in February from Outdoor Enterprises, who was awarded the contract. Council approved $1.56 million in bonds to pay for the park at the beginning of March.

Gore said he is not sure yet if buying the granite from the United States will raise the price of the project.

Richard Shaw, a council member, said a veteran reached out to him after Shaw spoke at a city council meeting and told him that the black granite the city needed is available in the U.S.

Shaw said he was looking to get an update about where the park is at during the next city council meeting or in the next few weeks. He said he had reached out to Gore and Falkowski to see where the project is.

"You know I have questioned the materials that's being used for it because I believe we need to do it right," Shaw said. "And it's been quite some time since I've heard an update on this."

However, he says he still supports the project.

"I have a very long history of veterans in my family, and this is something I believe still needs to be done in our community," Shaw said.