The municipal campus in Lincolnwood will receive new signage that could help the residents who report getting lost trying to find the appropriate village government building, officials said.
Those lost visitors tend to wander into the finance department to ask for help because of the sign above that office simply reads, “Information,” said Village Manager Tim Wiberg.
“The finance department has many interruptions per day,” Wiberg said. “When you take an objectionable look around, you do realize that the signage leaves a bit to be desired by the visitor who is not as familiar with the campus as the rest of us are.”
The confusion could end once the new signage replaces the 25-year-old faded brown signs that dot the cluster of buildings on Lincoln and More avenues that house village hall, the police and fire departments and the Lincolnwood Community Center.
The plan calls for directories in the entryway of village hall and new signs to be placed inside the building above all the departments, including parks and recreation, the mayor’s office, finance, and community development.
While village employees know their way around the village buildings without needing direction, the current indiscreet and out-of-the way signage labeling the buildings and interior departments has visitors constantly getting lost, Wiberg said.
New outdoor signage will replace the small bronze lettering that appears on the buildings. The new signs will be installed on the police and fire departments, village hall and the community center.
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Directories will go up on the north and south ends of village hall to guide visitors to the right place.
The project will cost more than twice as much as village officials anticipated when they forecasted $10,000 in the 2016-17 budget for design, construction, and installation of the signage earlier this year.
Updated cost for the project reached $23,639 after bids were higher than what village officials were expecting, according to the village.
The design phase would cost $5,939, and the fabrication and installation likely would total $17,700, officials said.
Village trustees during a committee meeting Sept. 20 allowed the village’s Roselle-based contract engineer firm, Christopher B. Burke Engineering, to start working with Tria Architecture, of Burr Ridge, on the design phase of the signage project.
A contractor for the installation would be selected after the designs were finalized, said Chuck Meyer, assistant to the village manager.
“We did a small revision in 2009, but a lot of the signage is from 1991, when it was all created,” Meyer said.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.