Council committee hears DPW on massive sign update, orders six-month follow-up

The City Council committee on public works heard from Department of Public Works staff that an ongoing project to inventory and update parking signage will touch hundreds — and ultimately thousands — of signs across the city.

DPW project staff Melanie told the committee the downtown Central Business District alone includes close to 1,000 parking signs in the meter area and that sign replacement is a large task the department cannot complete within the near-term staffing and funding available. "It's a vast, vast task that we don't have currently the capacity to do in house," Melanie said.

Why it matters: outdated or illegible signage affects parking enforcement, curb management and resident convenience. Council members pressed staff on whether production and installation were contracted out and whether residents could see progress. DPW said fabrication recently used a vendor but installations remain in-house; staff reported about 235 open work orders and estimated 2½–4 months to work through current requests.

Councilors asked whether DPW could provide neighborhood-level lists from its Asset Essentials work-order system and whether a public-facing map of open sign requests would help make the case for additional staffing. DPW said the digital platform includes mapping features that can be investigated but cautioned that mapping will require consistent work-order status updates and data clean-up.

The committee moved to continue the signage resolution for six months to give staff time for an inventory, a neighborhood breakdown of outstanding requests and budget options. The vote to continue the item carried.

What’s next: DPW will report back to the committee with an updated inventory and options to address the installation backlog during the six-month follow-up period.