CHARLESTON, W.Va. –The newly formed West Virginia Monument Construction Committee hopes to get the ball rolling for the West Virginia Memorial to Fallen Heroes of the Global War on Terrorism two years after legislation passed that created the group.
Chelsea Ruby, Secretary of WV Dept. of Tourism
During the 2023 legislative session lawmakers passed House Bill 3398, which created the committee and outlined what they were responsible for. The bill was introduce and later passed in order to preserve the memory of West Virginia service members who were killed in action in the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations during the United States War on Terror. The war was launched after the September 11 attacks in New York.
The group was initially supposed to be formed on or before July 1, 2023, however nothing ever happened.
The committee met Monday and while no discussion was made about the design or location of the monument, they did discuss that they are going to be starting that very soon.
Secretary of Tourism Chelsea Ruby (soon to be curator of the Dept. of Arts, Culture and History), Secretary for the Department of Administration Eric Householder, Secretary of Veteran’s Assistance Edward Kennedy, Senator Tom Willis and Hancock County Delegate Pat McGeehan make up the new committee.
Ruby will be the committee’s chairperson as outlined in the bill.
Ruby said that while the committee hasn’t met before, she believes that they can work to get things going on the memorial.
“I know that this group has been in statute for a while and is a little late getting started, but I feel confident we can work together and getting things moving quickly,” she said during their meeting.
The commission will oversee the design and construction of the monument. They are tasked with making sure the monument is in-line with with the classical themes like the other veteran’s memorial and make sure it is reflective of the West Virginians killed during the war.
McGeehan said the committee never met the requirements it was supposed to but is glad that it is now.
“It just never met deadlines, never came about, so I’m grateful that Chelsea’s on the ball,” he said.
While they didn’t discuss any design or construction of the project, Ruby did say that she is going to be doing some administrative work in order to see what there next steps are in the process.
“I will reach out to purchasing to talk about next steps on how the bidding for this project goes out,” Ruby said. “I will also confirm with the Division of Labor that the funds are still in the account. I checked a couple of months ago when I became aware of this project and they were there but I do just want to confirm that, get the exact amount on the account balance.”
According to the legislation, Division of Labor was supposed to put back $750,000 from any available funds that are managed or utilized by the division. They will also be able to obtain money through grants, charitable donations or other appropriate means in order to complete the monument.
Legislation will require the monument to have a plaque of the 40 names of the service members killed and will be located on state capitol grounds.