QUANG TRI MONUMENT design (before changes).

By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune

The matter of where the controversial proposed Quang Tri monument should be located hit another roadblock Wednesday night as the Westminster City Council was unable to reach a decision.

After lengthy discussion – at times heated – among the council, a motion to conduct more community input was defeated, but  a motion to defer action to the next meeting was approved.

Councilmember Tai Dao said, “This is an issue we’re all really passionate about” and made a motion – seconded by Councilmember Kimberly Ho – to defer a decision on the location of the monument to the Aug. 10 meeting.

City Manager Christine Cordon cautioned against that, saying that would be the meeting at which the council is planning to take up the issue of putting a sales tax measure before voters, and that such a meeting could very lengthy.

Then Councilmember Chi Charlie Nguyen said, “I’d like to make a substitute motion to that. It’s very difficult to make a motion when there’s a split. I’m not opposed to the Quang Tri monument, but it is a community project so we should seek input from the community. Based on community input, we can easily make a decision.”

Mayor Tri Ta seconded the substitute motion, but it failed when it received just two yes votes; Do and Ho voted no and Vice Mayor Carlos Manzo abstained.

Then the original motion to defer a decision was taken up. Do and Ho voted in favor, and the other three members abstained. According to City Attorney Christian Bettenhausen, that was enough for the delay to be approved.

The Quang Tri monument would be to honor and memorialize the victory of South Vietnamese and American forces over Communist troops at the Second Battle of Quang Tri in 1972.

At issue was whether to place the monument at a city park or on private property such as the Westminster Memorial Park cemetery grounds.