PORT ANGELES — City Hall is giving sign makers another week to submit bids for a contract to produce six directional signs as part of its Waterfront & Transportation Improvement Plan.
The move comes in response to concerns raised by two Port Angeles sign makers — Mike Millar and Jackson Smart — that the one week they were given originally was simply not enough time.
The decision, made Wednesday, came after Millar phoned project consultant Steve Zenovic and requested that it be extended.
Nathan West, city of Port Angeles economic and community development director, said he spoke with Zenovic and gave the OK for moving the deadline from this Friday to Friday, Feb. 11.
“We want to make sure we give local professionals an adequate opportunity to respond,” he said.
Won’t affect deadline
The extension won’t affect the March 14 deadline for the signs to be completed, West said.
Zenovic, a Port Angeles engineer, said that shouldn’t be a problem since it may not take more than a week for the signs to be produced.
Millar, owner of ASM Signs, said he was encouraged by the decision and plans to try to submit a bid.
“At least I can give it a fair crack of the whip,” Millar said.
Smart said he won’t be submitting a bid because he is too busy with other projects.
“I’m not going to get involved in it this time,” he said.
Smart and Millar are among the four Port Angeles sign makers approached for the project.
The other two are Copy Cat Graphics and Eagle Signs.
Sean Trujillo of Eagle Signs said last week that he plans to submit a bid. Ted Groves, owner of Copy Cat Graphics, said it’s too big of a project for him to take on.
The contract has also been advertised in Seattle.
The six signs will be used as a test run for the city’s new directional, or “wayfinding,” sign program.
Up to 50 will be put in place.
The city has budgeted $225,000 for the signs.
West said the six prototypes will likely be in place from two weeks to a month before the city moves ahead with ordering the rest.
The signs consist of light-green slats topped by a depiction of a tribal canoe pulling past the Olympic Mountains.
They were designed by AECOM of Orlando, Fla. Walkable and Livable Communities Institute of Port Townsend is also a consultant on the sign program.
AECOM is also the designer of two entryway monument signs that the city wants to install.
That design is on hold while the city’s WTIP consultants finish work related to the waterfront development aspect of the project, West said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
