Sign of relief: Newbold town shop to get identifiable sign

Newbold town chairman Dan Hess said during a town board meeting on Feb. 27 people have been requesting the town shop have some sort of signage added to help identify the building off of Bridge Road. 

“So I’ve had complaints over the last six months, not by the same people, that there’s no ‘Newbold Town Shops’ sign on the town shops,” he said. “One (person) was picking up dirt and didn’t know that was the building.”

Hess said he spoke with director of public works Mark Fetzer about it and added the old sign came down “a couple years ago in pieces, it sounds like.”

But the sign on the building still didn’t identify the town shop exactly. 

Fetzer indicated it’s been awhile since the town shop had a sign identifying the building.

“So for the last 25 years, 20 years, it said Newbold is all it said,” he said. “It didn’t say anything else. And then, when we painted, we took the Newbold off and it fell apart and we never replaced it.”

Hess said he requested Fetzer get price estimates of new signage.

He presented the board with two options — a 12-inch letter sign option and a 15-inch letter sign option. 

The 12-inch option was $1,185 and the 15-inch option was $1,392.

Fetzer, when asked by Hess, said he thinks the 12-inch option would be adequate. 

Town supervisor Brad White said he preferred the 15-inch option. 

“Just looking at the pictures and knowing how my eyesight is not good anymore, and for a couple hundred bucks more it’s not an extraordinary upcharge,” he said. “I actually think it looks better, the 15-inch.”

Town supervisor Petra Pietrzak indicated she agreed with White. 

“I think the 15-inch is worth (it),” she said. 

Installation was included in the price estimates and Fetzer said JP Signs & Graphics out of Tomahawk was where he received the estimates. 

Town supervisor Scott Ridderbusch indicated he’d like to have the town’s crest made into a sign and placed on the side of the town shop building as well, but a decision on that wasn’t made and Ridderbusch said maybe that could be decided at a later date.

Hess said he thought the 15-inch option looks “pretty nice.”

The board unanimously agreed to go with the 15-inch letter sign option and purchase that not to exceed the quoted price.

Ridderbusch was directed to apply for a zoning permit with Oneida County for the sign as well. He said there isn’t a cost for the permit because the sign is for governmental purposes.

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].