By R. Braiden Trapp
SUN Managing Editor
The four new signs welcoming travelers to the city of Española cost over $16,000 and were designed and built by Affirmative Solutions, of Albuquerque.
According to city purchase documents, the steel fabrication and metal manufacturing company charged the city $1,500 each, to design and fabricate the signs.
Shipping and installation was additional, according to a $4,815 invoice, which included tax. An additional check for $2,461 was issued to Affirmative Solutions May 24 for “contractual services.”
Planning Director Russell Naranjo said Tuesday he wasn’t sure exactly how the costs broke down but that the $2,461 check was to cover the fourth sign, as well as a sign which sits over the mayor’s head in the council chambers.
The four walls, upon which the brush and swirl finished signs are mounted, were constructed by Correon Construction, of Rio Rancho at a cost of $9,000, including tax.
Naranjo said the idea of welcome signs had been in the works for a long time.
“The lodgers tax board has been asking for them for many years,” Naranjo said. “It wasn’t until Mayor (Alice) Lucero’s administration came in that they got done.”
The discussion at the Board’s Dec. 7 meeting was not enthusiastic toward the new signs.
Board member JoAnn Casados asked if anyone had seen the new welcome sign coming into Española from Santa Fe.
“It’s pretty but you can’t read it,” Board Chair Marlo Martinez said. “Is there one at every entrance to town?”
City Clerk Tessa Jo Mascareñas said the city was in the process of installing the signs and they all look the same.
“They’re all the same?” Casados asked. “You can’t see it. You can’t read it.”
The project was let out to bid, despite being under the $20,000 threshold for projects requiring a bid, Naranjo said.
A request for the other bidders and supporting documentation was pending as of Tuesday evening.
Affirmative Solutions designers gave the planning department several options for the signs.
“I don’t know whose idea it was,” Naranjo said. “They gave us some samples and the mayor was involved and that’s what we went with.”
Naranjo dismissed comments that the signs weren’t readable.
“I think they look great,” he said. “Right now they’re very shiny. If you catch them at the right time of day, they look awesome.”
Plans are in the works to install solar-powered lights, Naranjo said. The lights will be put up after the holiday break. He did not know those costs.
“I think in time the shinyness will fade,” he said. “Right now they look like a piece of jewelry out there.”