Forever One Memorial will honor the 58 lives lost on October 1, 2017, the lives forever changed, and the community that rallied together to confront the repercussions of the worst mass shooting in recent US history.

It will be located on two acres of the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert grounds where the shooting took place.

And a memorial of this scale is expected to cost around $45 million.

Here to explain more about efforts to fund it is Kelly McMahill, Retired Deputy Chief for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the current Treasurer of the Vegas Strong Fund.

Kelly McMahill, thank you for joining Nevada Week.

(Kelly McMahill) Thank you for having me.

-And especially on this day, because as we record this interview, it is October 1, and it has been eight years since that horrific night.

What is this day like for you?

-So, typically, every year, this day starts early.

I wake up about three in the morning.

And I've given myself the grace over the last few years to allow myself to go back to that moment when the phone call came in.

It was unlike anything I'd ever been part of.

The phone rang, and my husband, who was the undersheriff at the time, answered it.

-And now the current sheriff.

-Now our current sheriff.

And I remember he looked at me and he said, This is real.

We have to go.

And just the look on his face, I mean, we've been together for years, we have five children, we've been through a lot together, and that look and the way he said, This is real, we have to go, I'll never forget that.

And so I really try to start the day off prepping myself for the sunrise ceremony, which we attended this morning.

It's beautiful.

And every year we hear from a family member of one of the 58.

And this year, just like every other year, so poignant and touching.

And it reminds me that these 58 folks, who they were in life and not just who they were in death.

-What was your role after this mass shooting?

-So that night, it was very interesting, because I was a captain in charge of investigating officer-involved shootings at the time, but we had so many deceased individuals that the homicide team ended up taking over that aspect of the investigation.

So I was the captain tapped with being in charge of the criminal investigation, of course along with the FBI.

In the days that followed-- It took us about three and a half months to get that report completed, and then the sheriff at the time, Sheriff Lombardo, asked me if I would author the After Action Report.

So I ended up coauthoring that report.

It took another 18 months to finish.

And then I was lucky enough to be asked to sit on the One October Memorial Board with a group of seven individuals.

There's seven of us total, and we were the ones that chose, along with the help of the impacted community, the permanent memorial that will-- that design was chosen.

And now I don't know how I got so lucky, but I've been asked to be on the Vegas Strong Fund nonprofit, which is we're in charge of fundraising and building this permanent memorial.

-How would you describe this task?

-First of all, it's humbling to be part of something that's so much bigger than myself.

So for that, I'm grateful, but it's a heavy lift.

It's $45 million.

And it's not just the money.

The heavy piece is that we owe it to so many people to get this done.

There are family members of these loved ones that are gone, that they'll never see again, and this is the lasting memorial to the people that they loved.

It's a tribute to the survivors that were out there that night.

There were 22,000 people at this concert.

And so the heavy, heavy lift of this is going out and asking for money, which is never an easy thing to do, but doing it on behalf of this impacted community, it's an honor.

And so we will get this done.

We're-- We got off to a little bit of a rocky start, but we're starting to gain some momentum.

-What was that rocky start?

-So I think, you know, I was asked to do some research on memorials.

And what we found across the country, across the world, actually, the best way to fund these memorials is through both public funding and private funding.

And it's done a little bit differently everywhere, but the most successful are done in this way.

So we really were hoping to go to the legislature.

As we went up north, we had an entire One October day.

We brought survivors with us and family members of those who died, and we had this amazing day up north.

And we had a lot of hope the lawmakers would come to us with something, with some type of funding just to get us started.

Unfortunately, that didn't come to fruition.

It was really disheartening, sort of a crushing blow, I think, for all of us.

-And that was past session.

-That was this past session.

-What reason did they give?

-So we didn't get a reason, Amber, which I thought was interesting, because we had lawmakers stand out front at the press conference with us and vow that this would happen, that this memorial would be built.

And we didn't get an answer.

I think, you know, they tried to tell us there was no money.

And while I respect that and respect that they have very difficult decisions to make and I've never sat in their seats, I don't know if that was completely accurate.

But here we are today, and it's not going to stop us.

We are more dedicated than ever to fundraise and build this memorial.

-Granted, there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the budget this past legislative session.

And also, it's an expensive memorial.

When you think of other memorials for mass shootings, the Pulse nightclub shooting, for example, I think they finally have agreed to make that about $12 million.

That has yet to be constructed.

That was in 2016.

How do you explain that to people, the need for 45 million, especially when the land has been donated from MGM?

-So the land was donated, thankfully, and again, that's somewhere between 13 and $14 million.

We are forever grateful for that donation.

Look, I'll just say this: Pulse nightclub is a tragedy that was compounded upon tragedy.

If you go back and look at their process, unfortunately, they had theft involved in their nonprofit that was supposed to build this memorial that happened before our shooting.

And so their community deserves so much better than what's happened to them.

We are uniquely different here in Las Vegas.

We always have been.

We always will be.

We are going to build a memorial that is a permanent, lasting, beautiful structure that pays homage to not just those that lost their lives, but the first responders that were there, to the resiliency of this city.

And so $45 million is where we landed.

Initially, we got a price tag of $71 million.

We pared that down dramatically, but it's really not out of bounds when you consider that this is the worst mass shooting in US history.

The second closest thing that occurred, the tragedy that occurred next to this would have been 9/11.

That memorial was about $500 million to-- $500 million to build.

And again, if you've been there, it's beautiful.

We want to build something that not only does justice to all the people that we owe this memorial to, but fits in with our city.

And we're talking about a city that is iconic.

This is going to be built on the Las Vegas Boulevard.

So to all of us that are involved, and if you see the project, if you take time to look at the sentiment that is there, just the actual beauty and the honor and the tribute that's paid to everyone that was involved in this, I think people will agree that $45 million is reasonable.

-How much money have you raised?

-We're at $4 million.

And I have to give a big shout-out to Mr.

Foley and the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

They were our first million dollar donor.

It was remarkable.

We just came from them presenting the check to us this morning.

I personally wish that so many others across this valley would follow Mr.

Foley's generosity, other sports teams, other philanthropists would see how critically important this project is, that it's going to outlast all of us.

Once we're gone, it will still be standing.

And I wish that they could find it in their hearts to find that generosity.

-And for those who may not have the ability to contribute a million dollars, there are-- there's a smaller level.

-We know everyone out there doesn't have a million dollars they can just write a check for.

And so we started last week a commemorative paver drive.

We are selling these pavers in two different sizes.

And what I love about it is you can add your own icon.

I chose the Vegas Golden Knights icon.

It made the most sense to me.

And you get to put your own message on this paver.

The pavers will be at the entrance of the memorial as you walk in, and they'll be part of this for eternity.

So again, long after I'm gone, my message will remain for people to continue to see.

-You want to open this in two years, 10 years after this shooting.

Do you think that's going to happen?

-I do.

I do.

Listen, for me, this is such a personal passion project, and it is for so many of us.

Vegas Strong Fund was started in the aftermath of One October.

Their job initially was to gather all those funds that had been donated, millions upon millions of dollars, and those folks had to decide who got that money, right, based on their level of injury or whether or not they lost their life.

Those folks were already deeply committed, and they're incredible leaders in our community, people like our prior mayor, Jan Jones Blackhurst, right?

She's our president.

The group that I sit around the table with, they get things done.

We will get this done.

My husband, as the sheriff, is committed to getting this done.

You can't go to a ceremony like we did this morning and listen to a father talk about losing his 31-year-old daughter, mother of three, who died in her husband's arms.

You can't listen to that and know the things that I know and not get this done.

So there are people out there that will help us.

We're just really getting started in earnest.

Again, with public donations and private donations, we will get this built.

And it will be the pride of Las Vegas when we do it.

-Kelly McMahill of the Vegas Strong Fund, thank you so much for joining Nevada Week.

-Thank you for having me.

Appreciate it.