MONTE VISTA – New Monte Vista Police Department Police Chief Sean McDonagh was sworn in during a city council meeting on Thursday, July 18, and the council received an update on the Recreational Economy for Rural Communities (RERC) action plan.
McDonagh took his oath in front of City Clerk Unita Vance. Afterward, the city council members congratulated McDonagh.
Community Coordinator Xavier Campos gave an update on RERC, specifically talking about signage and how it affects the plan.
Campos, who is originally from Florida, came to Monte Vista, to work on the RERC plan for the town.
“One of the goals for RERC is signage, and downtown amenities and vibrancy in the downtown area,” he said.
Campos explained that City Planner DJ Enderle had him go through town and outside of town to examine signs in and around the town, as an outsider, to see if there were things that could be improved.
Campos said that one thing he noticed was that Monte Vista has signs when people are coming into town but not leaving town.
“The signage that we do have for Monte Vista, is also far out and not close to the downtown part of the city,” he said.
Campos said that new signs could help make things more vibrant for the big events that come to town, and attract more traffic for these events, including the Crane Festival, as well as Stampede.
Another thing Campos noticed is that many signs have not been updated with the new city logo either.
“We have signs here for the golf course, the driving range. These signs have the old logo from 2016 on them,” he said.
He said there is a need for signs that direct people to City Hall, to the post office, or the library, or other things that people should be directed toward with signage, especially for people who are coming in from out of town.
Campos spoke about the signs for the wildlife refuge too, stating that although they are nice, they do not reference the annual Crane Festival or what to do at the refuge.
Campos said there is a “Welcome to Monte Vista” sign that is not derived from the city but derived from Waste Management. He said that it mentions historic downtown Monte Vista, but “I have been downtown, and I haven’t seen signage downtown, that indicates ‘historic downtown,’ or even what parts are historic; so that’s interesting to me.”
Campos said the post office is clearly a building from the 1920’s, but there is no sign that indicates it being historical.
“We don’t really leverage the architectural beauty that we have here, just a sign that says where it is,” he said.
Campos said a better sign could be put up for the local museum. He said that because it is on the main highway and people look that way as they are driving through, a more attractive sign for the museum, may help traffic numbers for the museum.
Campos also spoke about the signage for the Monte Vista Chamber of Commerce and the information center.
“It may be unclear whether you should stop here, to get everything you need information wise, if you are staying in Monte Vista for an extended amount of time,” he said, adding that a better sign could make this a lot clearer for people coming in from out of town.
Campos again referenced the library.
“The library is a historic site. We don’t have any historic signs at all in the city. Historic Signs give something to people to look at, to read about, learn something new about in the city,” he said.
Campos said updating a lot of the signs would help and that updating signage is part of the restoration project that RERC is working on. The council thanked Campos for the update.
The next council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 1 at City Hall.
