City puts $115,000 signage proposal on hold

Charlottesville’s City Hall Complex was in line to get $115,000 worth of new signage later this year, with officials saying the buildings’ current placards are not compliant with disability regulations and are out of date.

But the city’s mayor termed the proposed expenditure as “extravagant.” And on Tuesday evening, city spokesman Ric Barrick said Charlottesville’s acting city manager has put the project on hold, “pending a more detailed review of the actual costs.” The decision to put the project on hold was based, Barrick said, “on some questions by councilors on the overall scope of the project.”

“It’s not a done deal,” Mayor Dave Norris said earlier Tuesday. “I can’t imagine that this council will have much of an interest in spending this much money on interior signage for City Hall. If we need to upgrade the signs, let’s upgrade the signs. But to me there’s no reason that has to cost anywhere near $100,000. That’s some pretty rich signage.”

Norris, who said he was not arguing that city buildings do not need up-to-date signage, said the specific expenditure was brought to his attention Tuesday, after The Daily Progress began making inquiries about the project.

The new signs would be decorated with a dogwood flower theme, according to project designs, and the project would install everything from new lobby and directional signs to ones for bathrooms and city departments. Scott Hendrix, project manager for the city’s facilities management, said the signage would have several features to make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, such as Braille and raised letters.

“We’re sort of behind the curve on that,” Hendrix said. He added, “The current signs were installed prior to that law.”

The project had a budget of $115,000, and the city was in the process of soliciting bids for the creation and installation of the signage. But the money would have come from an account in the city’s Capital Improvement Program, and councilors never discussed the individual line item, Norris said. The CIP is voted on by councilors as a part of the city’s budget approval process.

The funding for the signs would come from the Public Works Capital Projects Lump Sum account, Barrick said. The account holds financing for various smaller projects specific to public buildings.

“I think that’s a large amount of money that probably should have been brought up in City Council, possibly even under the consent agenda,” city resident John Pfaltz said.

The interior signage would have the same design theme as some of the other wayfinding signs placed around town over the past several months, which was done as a part of a separate program to help tourists and visitors navigate Charlottesville and more easily find area landmarks and venues.

Over two fiscal years the city set aside $450,000 for that signage program, which was done through the Department of Neighborhood Development Services. Some of them have just been put up recently, such as a “Welcome to Historic Downtown” sign on Park Street near the Albemarle County Courthouse.

The signage within City Hall is a separate expense, Barrick said. Councilor Satyendra Huja said he recalls discussing the outdoor wayfinding signs but said, “I don’t remember discussing interior signs.”

According to a sign inventory taken in June, the City Hall compound of buildings has 647 signs. Apart from going into the main City Hall building, the new interior signage would be placed in three other municipal buildings, including the police station and the City Hall Annex.

Hendrix said many of the complex’s directories are also wrong because some city departments have moved locations since those signs were first put up.

“Departments have moved around and the signage hasn’t really changed to keep up with that,” he said.