ATHOL — At the Aug. 9 meeting of Athol’s Selectboard, Downtown Vitality Committee Chair Mary Holtorf presented the board with a couple of alternative designs for use on wayfinding signage the town plans to post in various parts of the community — signage directing visitors to parking, business areas and points of interest. Holtorf was looking for feedback from the board regarding which option it preferred, with plans to return with the final version recommended by the DVC.
However, at its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 23, the Selectboard made its choice without waiting for the DVC to express its preference — a decision which appeared to catch Holtorf off guard.
The wayfinding initiative was underwritten by a state Downtown Local Technical Assistance grant that funded the hiring of a consultant — in this case, Mark Faverman of Boston-based Faverman Design. The grant carried a stipulation that a report needed to be made to the state by the end of August indicating that the design process had been completed.
Following the board’s vote, Town Manager Shaun Suhoski thanked the Downtown Vitality Committee for its work, but Holtorf protested that its work was not finished.
“This was a town grant,” board Vice Chair Rebecca Bialecki responded, “and we have just decided as a voting body, and the chief elected officials, that this is what it will look like.”
“Oh, really?” said Holtorf. “The DVC still wants to make some changes to the design. There’s been some pushback from the consultant, and we weren’t given the completed design to our satisfaction.”
“It’s my understanding,” said Bialecki, “that this consultant was hired by the town through a town grant, so the final decision doesn’t necessarily rest with the Downtown Vitality Committee. We’ve gone back and forth and seen many iterations of this. Quite frankly, I think we’ve made a decision.”
“The consultant took the general consensus from the last (Selectboard) meeting on the two designs,” said Suhoski, directing his comment to Holtorf. “There was commentary about the river or the canoe. I sent that to the consultant and asked if he could merge that, and I believe that’s a discussion I had with both you and (Athol Planning and Development Director Eric Smith).
“So, that’s what we have here. The board just expressed its support for the direction we’re going in and, ultimately, if signage is going up in the town, it’s not a committee, it’s not the town manager, it’s the board that would have to approve that.”
“I think the Downtown Vitality Committee is going to be rather upset, as a group,” Holtorf stressed.
“Well, we made a decision, Mary,” responded board Chair Alan Dodge, who is also a member of the DVC.
In an interview with the Athol Daily News, Bialecki said, “The DVC had been working with the consultant for months, knowing that Sept. 1 was the final deadline. You can’t really change grant deadlines.
“They sent us the earlier drafts because we do make the final decision and had gotten all the input from the DVC. So, we reviewed all of that and sort of said, ‘Hey, these are all the things we really like.’”
For her part, Holtorf told the Athol Daily News that changes to the design were still possible as the project moves to the production phase. While conceding the grant portion of the project did come to an end as of Sept. 1, Holtorf added, “For whatever reason, the consultant wanted the Selectboard to acknowledge that this was the end of the grant work that he was being funded to do.
“The next step will be for the Downtown Vitality Committee to actually look into the cost of creating the signs and where to put them. If there are changes that need to be made to the design, it will happen in the next phase of the project.
“I was trying to make it clear to the Selectboard that, yes, this phase of the project was finished but we haven’t gotten to a final stage for the sign production.”
Asked about the design approved by the Selectboard, Holtorf said, “It’s not set in stone. There are still changes that could occur to the sign, but we’ve just run out of time to go back and forth with this particular consultant under this particular grant. (Sept. 1) is just sort of an official closing with this phase.”
Holtorf said the DVC will likely apply for a T-Mobile grant for the actual production of the signs.
“So, once we find a grant that will help fund the production of the signs, then we’ll move forward with any details that need to be ironed out,” she said.
Bialecki said that aspects of the sign could be “tweaked” but emphasized the overall graphic design as approved by the board is, indeed, final.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.