Politics & Government
Village Calls for More Expensive Stone 'Welcome' Signs
The board says "no" to recycled plastic signs.
When faced with the decision between engraved stone and recycled plastic as the facing material for Sussex’s new , the Public Works committee chose stone.
The village did obtain $36,000 from Quad/Graphics to build two new signs. Considering incidentals, labor costs and any additional materials, each plastic sign is estimated to cost $17,000 and each stone sign is estimated to cost $20,300 — including the brick pillars, estimated at $10,000 per sign. So the stone signs could require the village to find additional funding.
“I was unable to get an exact estimate from Halquist for the stone, so this is an anticipated cost, but the cost for the brick pillars is based on what we paid for at the ,” said Melissa Weiss, Assistant to the Administrator. “Remember, they are 10 feet tall.”
Find out what's happening in Sussexwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Jeremy Smith, the Village Administrator, agreed that these numbers are purposefully on the higher end to avoid any future trouble.
“These numbers are on the conservative side because we don’t want to come back and say we need more money,” Smith said.
Find out what's happening in Sussexwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The cost may be a bit higher than expected, but Village President Greg Goetz thinks the cost is worth it. While a plastic sign would get the job done, Goetz said he’d like to see something more upscale.
“The sign that’s up at the park is nice, but personally, I think a stone sign is what we want to do,” Goetz said. “A plastic sign wouldn’t do that. I think we want to go with something a little more permanent.”
Committee members then directed staff to look into other stone companies than Halquist for quotes, in addition to researching a possible hanging or detachable sign that acknowledges Quad for the donation. That way, if Quad were to leave Sussex one day, the entire sign wouldn’t need to be replaced.
Village staff members have already received verbal permission to place the new welcome signs outside the right-of-way of Vulcan Quarry and , formerly Sussex Place.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.