By Ben Walker

March 2, 2006 | RIVER HEIGHTS -- The City Council unanimously passed a motion Tuesday to support the Lions Club in an effort to erect a monument to the city's war veterans who were killed in action.

Brian Anderson represented the Lions Club at the council meeting. He said approval was received several years ago for such a monument, but never reached fruition. Anderson worked with Jack McFarland originally on the project until McFarland died. "He passed away, we got a little sidetracked and lost steam," Anderson said.

Anderson said he will submit an application for RAPZ funds. These funds come from a RAPZ tax and can be given to support recreation, arts, parks and zoos. The deadline to apply for the funding is Friday. Anderson said they should know by April 1 if the funding is approved and if so, they expect dedication of the memorial in late fall.

Financial support from the city has not been nailed down and Councilman Bill Baker said he was reluctant to reach any financial agreement in such a preliminary stage.

The monument will potentially rest on public property owned by the city near the city office building. Upkeep of the monument may be similar to that of a like monument in Providence for which upkeep is estimated at $200 yearly.

"As we look around the valley, most of the cities do have some kind of a monument," said Councilman Brent Greenhalgh. He said such a monument would tell visitors that River Heights cares about fallen veterans.

The monument would include the names of all the city's fallen soldiers and leave room to add more names in the future.

"Quite a bit of research went into compiling a complete list of veterans a few years ago," Anderson said.

The council also approved the first ordinance of the year, allowing the city to charge a reasonable fee to those requesting public documents under the provisions of the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). City Recorder Shiela Lind said the fee would cover costs of reproducing the requested documents and would create a record of who requested what.

Mayor Todd Weston said the public should be able to obtain minutes of a council meeting easily.

"The law does say 'as soon as is reasonably possible,'" Weston said. "They should be very accessible to the public and that's the way we want to keep it."

The council also approved new hours for the city office. The office will additionally be open Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Tuesdays from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. It will also be open during the previous hours of Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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