DIDA: New Signs In the Works For Ironwood
IRONWOOD, MI - Friday, January 25, 2008 - The DIDA held its regular monthly meeting in the Community Development Room on the second floor of the Ironwood Memorial Building at noon yesterday. Attending the meeting were DIDA members, Mayor Bruce Noren, Wayne Ozark, Eva Smith-Furgason, George Goerig, Joe Karius, and new member, Jackie Powers. Absent from the meeting were Elaine Erickson (excused), Don Hitt (excused) and Rachael Hubbard (unexcused).
At yesterday's meeting, the Authority was introduced to new member Jackie Powers. After approving the docket and the minutes from the previous meeting, they elected new officers.
George Goerig was elected new Chairman after Don Hitt declared he would not be able to continue serving in that capacity. Joe Karius was re-elected as Vice-Chairman.
Once the new officers were elected, Joe Karius addressed the Authority to report on a MSHDA Meeting involving Downtown Revitalization and Downtown Development, that he and City Manager, Scott Erickson, attended in Marquette. He introduced the Authority to the MSHDA Blueprints for Downtowns program, stating that Houghton and Jonesville both previously participated, and urged the Authority to support it. After a brief presentation, Mayor Bruce Noren made a motion to send a letter of intent to MSHDA stating that the City of Ironwood was interested in participating. The letter of intent is the first step required by MSHDA to participate in the program.
The second step in the process is to hire a MSHDA consultant at a cost of $15,000. The State will pick up half of the cost, and the DIDA will have to pick up the remaining $7,500. Eva Smith-Furgason objected to hiring a consultant, but she agreed to send the letter since it was not obligating the DIDA at this time.
The Authority also considered and approved the purchase of a 3/4 page ad in the "Ironwood Daily Globe Progress Edition" at a cost `equal to last year's ad' of $474 (less than the rate for any non-profit corporation). Vice-Chairman Karius described the `Progress Edition' that will be published in his newspaper, "It generally has a report on activity and what kind of things that the DIDA is doing, and then asking for people for their input. It's sort of a report to the community." Motion was made by Noren to make the purchase, and Goerig seconded the motion. Smith-Furgason and Powers voted not to purchase the ad.
After the meeting, Ms. Smith-Furgason told the Chronicle, "Given our limited monetary resources, I would rather spend our money on tangible things that will be around for a long time! The money spent on a one-time advertisement could have easily been spent on three additional signs," referring to the Wayfinder signs discussed below.
George Goerig then gave the Authority an update on the Wayfinder signage progress. Scott Erickson sought out and received a quote from Saari Signs of Ironwood to manufacture the City's Wayfinder signs. The cost of the signs through this local contractor was considerably cheaper and the quality appears to be far superior to that of the national company the City was previously considering. After a brief discussion about the placement of the signs, the DIDA decided to start off by ordering five signs through Saari at a cost of $145.00 each, for a total of $725.00.
The Authority also had brief discussions about a business liaison; the "inconvenient" time of the DIDA meetings; letters to downtown businesses, inviting their participation; documentation of complaints and concerns; and MDOT regulations on highway signage. Nothing was settled regarding these matters, but the Authority agreed to discuss them all at a later date.
Steve Frank addressed the Authority stating that the Chronicle recently did an interview with Mike Mezzano. Steve suggested that the Authority follow Mezzano's advice and work with Hurley on projects -- including signage -- that will benefit both communities.
The next scheduled meeting for the DIDA will be Thursday, February 28, 2008.
Jim Albert
