By Nancy Huddleston, Editor 

Ever wonder what would happen if your street sign disappeared? Or what if some punk thought it would be funny to steal the stop sign in your neighborhood? Where could you get another one?

For the answer, walk in the door to the city’s sign shop in the public works building and the lyrics to Five Man Electrical Band’s popular song, “Signs,” starts playing in your mind.

“Sign, sign everywhere a signBlocking out the scenery breaking my mindDo this don't do that can't you read the sign?”

A rack on one side of the room stores about three duplicates of the city’s 340 street signs. A larger rack on the other side of the room contains a variety of stop signs, construction signs and no parking signs.

When asked how many street signs he has in stock, street department worker Jon Lunde grabs a list that is five columns wide and 68 lines long. Multiply 340 by the required three duplicates each and that comes to just over 1,000 street signs alone.Signs: Duplicates of all street signs are
kept in stock in case signs are damaged
or stolen.

Then there are the regulatory signs, which motorists know as stop and yield signs, no parking signs, guide signs and construction signs. Lunde also has some specialty signs, like the new city limits signs that bear the city’s logo and current population.

While some folks might think Lunde has a cool job and has the power to make any kind of sign he wants, he debunks that thought.

“If I think I need a sign, I just can’t make it and put one up,” he said. “There are lots of regulations and a process to follow.”

For instance, if someone wants to change the name of their street, they can’t just stroll into the sign shop, order one up and put it on their charge card.

They have to go to city hall and make a request of the Traffic Safety Committee. That committee is made up of representatives of the police, fire, planning, engineering and administrative staff. If they deem the sign request valid, then Lunde gets an order.

Recently, Lunde got an order for parking signs that will be posted in the town square parking lot that will regulate parking in certain areas.

Can he make it bright yellow with purple letters?

Nope.

No parking signs are white with red letters of a specific size and font. Same goes for all signs – the state sets certain specifications for every kind of sign and it’s Lunde’s job to make sure they are followed when a sign is ordered.

What if the city needs a special sign to close a road for construction or help motorists to a detour?

Lunde has “blanks” on hand that he uses to create those signs. Recently, he made some that were posted on Dakota Avenue just before Dan Patch Days to warn motorists that the road would be closed off at the end of the day.

So might a “collector” get the sign now that the city’s done using it?

Not with the price of aluminum these days!

Specialty signs made for detours, and the like, are made with removable letters that can be peeled off so that the blank sign can be used again.

And there’s no spell check in the sign business, either, so Lunde might have to ask fellow sign shop worker Jim Berg to be his proofreader.

“Sometimes you get so involved in making sure things are straight and the right size that you might forget about the spelling,” he said with a laugh.

 Nancy Huddleston can be reached at editor@savagepacer.com.