Litchfield Council Approves $32,974 Wayfinding Signage Bid Despite Size Concerns

Litchfield City Council Meeting | May 7, 2026

City tourism signs advance but will likely shrink before installation. The City Council authorized a $32,974.97 contract with Blink Signs for new downtown wayfinding signs, with plans to immediately negotiate change orders to reduce their massive 4-by-6-foot dimensions.

Wayfinding Signage Key Points:

• The City Council awarded a $32,974.97 bid to Cleveland-based Blink Signs for new tourism-oriented wayfinding signs.

• The project is entirely funded through the city’s Kilton Funds.

• Council members expressed significant concern over the proposed 4-by-6-foot size of the signs, comparing them to billboards.

• Rather than rejecting the bid, the council approved the contract to maintain progress with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and will use change orders to shrink the design.

The City of Litchfield on Thursday, May 7, 2026, approved a $32,974.97 bid for new downtown wayfinding signage, though the final products will likely look much different than the initial design mockups.

The bid award to Blink Signs, funded via Kilton Funds, sparked a discussion regarding the aesthetics and sheer size of the proposed single-post, double-sided signs. Several council members balked at the conceptual 4-by-6-foot dimensions.

“I just think we could do it smaller and not quite as in-your-face as they are,” one council member noted during the discussion. “They’re huge, and there’s not a lot of text on them. … These look like billboards.”

City staff clarified that the signs are specifically designed for tourism and highlighting city attractions, rather than pointing to standard public facilities like schools or hospitals, which are governed by different directional street signs. Staff also informed the council that the scope of the project was already shifting; the initial request for seven signs was reduced to six because a planned location between Madison and State on Union Avenue lacked sufficient space.

Because the majority of the signs will be located within the IDOT right-of-way, rejecting the bid would have halted the ongoing, tedious approval process with the state.

“If you reject the bid tonight, they’re going to stop working with IDOT and it’s just going to prolong the process,” city staff advised.

Instead, the council opted to approve the bid to keep the regulatory process moving, utilizing a clause in the contract that allows the city to submit change orders for creative differences. The change orders will be used to significantly decrease the size of the signs and alter the layout to better resemble traditional, smaller wayfinding markers before any fabrication begins.

The motion passed unanimously via roll call vote.