In January 2019, the Surprise City Council unanimously approved the conceptual plan for the Veterans Reflection Circle located within the Surprise Community Park, next to the Surprise Lake.

Prior to Council’s vote, in June 2018, the city’s Honoring an Exceptional Leader Task Force was reconvened at Council’s request to identify possible ways in which to honor late veteran and resident Brian Mancini.

During the task force process, two members of the design community – Jesse Westad with WERK Urban Design and Landscape Architecture and Jerry Moar with Logan Simpson – were inspired and moved by Mancini’s story and volunteered in-kind design services for the Veterans Reflection Circle. They presented their concept to the task force who recommended that it be presented to Council.

Wested and Moar gave a moving presentation on the project to City Council in December, 2018, describing their design and their heart behind it.

Watch the presentation to City Council on December 4, 2018

The following month, Council took an official vote to approve the project at their Regular Session City Council Meeting.

Watch the presentation to City Council on January 15, 2019

Council also voted to name a conference room in the Surprise Resource Center to the Brian Mancini Conference Room at the task force’s recommendation. The room is a place where veterans currently meet for friendship, fellowship and to receive services as they are transitioning into the civilian community or improve their life.

Groundbreaking

The city of Surprise broke ground June 24, 2019 on the Veterans Reflection Circle in honor of late Surprise resident and combat wounded veteran Brian Mancini, who spent his life serving his country and helping other wounded veterans find healing.

More than 100 people from the community, along with Brian’s friends and family, attended the ceremony at the Northwest Regional Library in Surprise.

The Veterans Reflection Circle will be built just outside the library in the Surprise Community Park, next to the fishing lake, and will open on Veterans Day 2019.

The beautiful and thoughtful project design was completed at no cost to the city by local design companies Logan Simpson and WERK. The generosity and heart of these firms inspired the idea to invite members of the construction and landscape communities to become partners in honoring our veterans by donating products and services to help bring this incredible project to life.

Jesse Westad, owner of WERK Urban Design and Engineering, spoke at the ceremony, which also included remarks from: Surprise City Manager Mike Frazier; Mayor Skip Hall; Budd Gilbert, Honor House Board Member; and James Crean, VP of Business Development with Haydon Building Corp.

Watch video of the groundbreaking ceremony