Marble delivery causes angst in Anthem Memorial project 

MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR ~ 10/5/2011

In every respect but one the Anthem Memorial project is on schedule. With just more than a month remaining before the Nov. 11 Veterans Day ceremony in front of the memorial there is one hangup troubling Ron Tucker, the man that has overseen the project from the beginning
“It’s causing me to lose sleep and making me a lot older,” Tucker acknowledged at the Sept. 28 Anthem Community Council meeting.
The issue is the delivery of the marble panels that will be mounted to the five pillars that make up the memorial.
While the panels have been transported from Italy to Washington, Tucker said the company’s general manager informed him that eight of the 54 panels need to be reworked.
“Apparently the pieces around the ellipses weren’t cut properly,” Tucker said.
Tucker said he has been informed that the pieces will arrive in Anthem in the middle
of October, but he said his group is planning to have a representative fly to Washington this week to get a first hand look at where things stand.
“We want our general contractor to eyeball this more closely to see what the situation is,” Tucker said.
Tucker said once the panels are delivered the installation should take about three days.
From there the pavers will be put in place, a process that should take two days.
“Everything else with the project is superb,” he said.
Council member Ron Jerich, who was adamant from the outset that Anthem implement some sort of penalty clause should there be a delay in the project, expressed his concern and asked what could be done.
“We wrote a letter to the company in July stating our guidelines, if you don’t meet these dates we’ll go forth with claims,” Tucker said. “If we hammer them now I fear we’d been hurting ourselves. We don’t want to slow up or delay the deliver because of politics or legal issues.”
Should Anthem need to go to court Tucker said he feels it would have a very strong position.
We’ve reiterated ad nauseum the deadlines at the weekly meetings we’ve had and we’ve taped those meetings so we feel we’re in a strong legal position if they don’t get here,” Tucker said.
Tucker also offered a financial update on the project, stating that as of the meeting $173,000 has been taken in through the project, a combination of donations and purchases of pavers. All told the project cost $190,000, meaning that if no other donations come in $17,000 of Enhancement Funds will be used to cover the cost of the project.
Tucker said that with the recent establishment of a 501 C3 for the project, the expectation is that corporate contributions will pickup now that those donations can be made as a tax write off.
The next Anthem Community Council meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 26 in the Anthem Community Center.