Union County Tourism wants Richwood involved in its wayfinding signage project but village officials said the high cost of signs make them hesitant.
(Graphic submitted)
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Richwood officials said they are interested in the county’s wayfinding signage project, but have some questions about the cost and ultimate benefit to the community.
At the recent village council meeting, Karen Eylon with Union County Tourism, formerly the county’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the board the tourism committee overseeing the countywide signage project wanted to get Richwood involved. The issue, however, is that signage could cost upwards of $74,000 for the village.
“In all honesty, it’s expensive. It really is expensive and there are initiatives that we are putting on hold, from a tourism standpoint, to make this happen,” she said. “But I think this is one of those things I truly believe you get what you pay for.”
The tourism committee has been working through plans to unify signage design across the county so that visitors to the area would see the same types of signs regardless of where they are in the county. After the numerous discussions, the committee settled on Merje, a design company out of Pennsylvania. While the company can be pricey, Eylon said it also could handle the size and scope of the county’s need.
The initial plan for the village, Eylon said, was to look at just over a dozen signs for Richwood Lake, Village Hall, the downtown area, fairgrounds and the school campus.
While Eylon said that price is high, she added the village doesn’t have to get all those signs at once. She said a first phase could include just two signs that would be posted outside the village at $10,000 a piece. Those would list some “shop and dine” options in the village’s downtown area.
She also said Richwood would not have to foot the entire bill.
“We, as a board, without having voted on it, agreed that we would, at minimum, based on the task force reaction and yours, we would pay the $20,000 for those two signs,” Eylon said. “You have our commitment, from Union County Tourism, that we would so much rather forgo our priority list, or shift that priority rather…it’s more important to us that Richwood is included.”
If Richwood decided to contribute financially to the county pot, Eylon said it’s possible the board could also contribute financially to remaining six signs.
Eylon said she has worked with Mayor Scott Jerew on what makes the most financial sense for the village noting the signs, even a smaller selection of them, can be costly.
“The mayor and I talked about it and obviously you have, like any community, higher priorities than wayfinding signage. But wayfinding signage is important,” she said. “We want Richwood to be included in part of this.”
The $70,000 sign list is one that Eylon said would be “if money were no issue.”
That list was reworked with help from Jerew to include eight signs, which would be one of each topic plus signage that highlights the park and two entrance signs outside the village at a total cost of $47,900.
Eylon said the signs come with that high cost and the committee hoped to receive a financial contribution from each participating municipality. She said Richwood’s contribution wouldn’t have to be large.
Council members were enthusiastic about taking part but had concerns about agreeing too quickly.
“I think it’s something that we kind of need to think about more and think about how that specific thing (signs) is going to play into the overall goal,” said Council member Jackie Hamilton. “I agree (about spending money) but I think that there are other things that we might want to consider prioritizing like the development of the downtown area.”
Council member Reddy Brown agreed, saying he would be willing to spend the money but also wanted to make sure the village had a return on its investment.
“This is exactly why I was asking what’s the return on investment. This is the (residents’) money we’re talking about,” he said. “But I think there is some value that’s going to happen when people are going to turn on Route 47 and come into town…I wish there was a dollar amount that would say, ‘this will pay for itself.’”
Ultimately, council members said they weren’t ready to take action one way or the other and that the topic warranted further discussion.