The votes are in and it’s a landslide: Morinville’s new town sign will be a giant ‘M.’
Town council announced the results of an online poll to pick the shape of Morinville’s new entrance sign at a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday.
Morinville has budgeted $75,000 this year to replace its four entrance signs. Council staff presented two proposed shapes for those signs to council on June 14 and asked them to pick one. One had the town’s logo (a stylized M) on a flag-like background, while the other had a much larger logo atop a bar with the town’s name on it. The signs, designed by Landale Signs of Edmonton, were about 5.5 metres tall and 5.0 metres wide.
The vote was a 3-3 tie (Coun. Nicole Boutestein was absent), so council held an online poll to let residents pick the winner. Residents had until 4 p.m. Monday to cast their ballots.
Residents voted 103 to 44 in favour of the big M, says Jennifer Maskoske, the town’s legislative officer.
It’s a landslide victory, says Mayor Lloyd Bertschi, and council will abide by the results. “Clearly, two-thirds of the people selected the one with the open ‘M’ on the top,” he says. “That’s great. We were able to ask the people what they thought.”
The design now goes to Alberta Transportation for approval, Bertschi says. If approved, the first two signs would go up on the east and west sides of town on 100 Avenue this September. The other two, including the large one at the future Cardiff Road overpass, would go up in 2013 due to budget constraints.
The four signs would cost about $121,280, according to council reports.
