An initial bid on the first phase earlier this year came in at $386,667, exceeding the $232,000 budgeted. When rebid, the only bid received was $367,419. The first phase included primary and secondary directional signage and new city entrance monuments.

A city wayfinding committee suggested revising the priority of different pieces of the project to create a new first phase to rebid. The suggested priorities elevated downtown gateway arches and the entrance monuments to the top of the list.

“The concern that I have is if this is a wayfinding project, doing those two elements first don’t necessarily do any wayfinding. We have monuments out at the edge of town now,” council member Mark Jantzer said. “The arches will be downtown but unless you go see it, it doesn’t help you get there.”

Jonathan Rosenthal, city economic developer, said arches and monuments provide placemaking, letting people know they have arrived. He added the current monument designs can be difficult to read. Proposed new signage also is meant to bring a consistent style that will be recognizable at a distance as wayfinding directions.

Submitted Graphic A 2022 rendering from Ackerman-Estvold shows proposed wayfinding sign designs, including an arched sign that would stand at Main Street and also at Central Avenue.

Traffic engineer Stephen Joersz explained the recommendation is to reject the latest bids and rather than try again, shift gears to bid the downtown gateway arches and monuments. The city then could reassess the remaining funds available for other parts of the project.

Council member Carrie Evans questioned moving away from directional signage as the priority.

“I’m curious what the rationale was, given limited resources, why the two priorities for the downtown gateway arches and updated entry monuments were put before perhaps the signage – the primary destination (signage) – that would benefit tourists and visitors and new residents,” she said.

The council concluded it needs updated cost estimates for the various elements of the wayfinding project to establish a better priority list.

The city has $232,000 from sales tax dollars set aside for economic development that it didn’t spend on wayfinding this year as originally planned. The money will carry over into next year and can be used with the additional $350,000 budgeted in 2024. Another $398,000 is to be budgeted in 2025 to complete the project.

The priority list presented to the council included two downtown gateway arches, five updated entry monuments and 32 primary destination signs as the top three priorities, scheduled for work in 2024.

The future list calls for 12 secondary destination signs, six highway signs, five downtown secondary gateway signs, three downtown kiosks, 24 downtown pedestrian signs and four downtown parking signs in 2025 – in that priority order.

“I can’t support the gateway arches,” council member Stephan Podrygula said. “I think they would consume way, way too much of the overall budget. I would rather get three or four of the other things moving. Frankly, the more I think about this, to me, the number one priority, and it’s last on your list, would be downtown parking.”

He said if the city wants to encourage use of the parking ramps, people need to be able to find them.

“A couple of signs on each of the parking ramps would be very cheap in comparison to a quarter million dollar gateway arch,” he said.

“I want to prioritize what’s most important and I would say that the downtown gateway arches would be on the low end of my priority so I would hate to fund that first,” council member Scott Burlingame added. “We don’t know how much money is going to exist in year two or three of this.”

The council tabled the latest bid, directing city staff to present additional information on the wayfinding elements at its Nov. 20 meeting.