INGALLS — To be compliant with guidelines from the Federal Highway Administration, Ingalls Town Council approved a bid of $18,806 for Hall Signs Inc. of Bloomington to make new street signs for Ingalls.
Hall Signs was chosen from three companies bidding for the project. Hall Signs was the lowest bidder.
Ingalls town manager Frank Owens said almost 200 signs will be made.
To be compliant, signs must be eight inches tall with with six-inch lettering made from reflective material; the signs must be mounted on breakaway posts that are seven feet in height.
Owens, who was hired in April, said the bidding process for new signs began a year ago under a previous town manager.
He said he searched council meeting minutes and saw a company had not been approved.
Owens reached out to the same three bidders involved in the prior bidding process to move forward with the project.
“Ingalls hasn’t replaced signs in many moons,” Owens said. “You go through Fortville and McCordsville, you can see what the signs are supposed to look like. We’re just trying to get compliant.”
Town council Vice President Justin Gardner asked Owens how long it would take to complete the project if signs were ordered immediately.
Owens said, weather-permitting, the signs could be up by fall.
Emergency alerts
Owens updated the board on his efforts to reach out to residents through the town’s Facebook page about subscribing to a free service to update them on weather and traffic emergencies.
Along with social media, Owens said letters were put in recent water bills that let Ingalls residents know of the Madison County Emergency Management service that informs citizens of weather and traffic problems.
People interested in receiving alerts on their phone can text MADISONCOEMA to 888777. They can also visit madisoncoema.org to sign up.
“It’s really nice and it’s free,” Owens said. “After the tornado that went through Pendleton, it seemed like it came up the ladder that we need to do something in letting our citizens know what’s going on.
“We’re trying to get the word out to everybody that anybody in Madison County can sign up for it, because we know we’re going to have some more bad weather.”
From paper to tablet
The council approved $5,000 to the Ingalls Fire Department for costs affiliated with ESO, a computer software program used by Emergency Medical Services, fire departments and hospitals to log runs and other data.
Fire chief Logan Caulk said the program will help in getting required information to the state.
“Currently, we are doing everything by hand,” Caulk said. “This will let us move to a tablet (computer) and will be much easier to send information to the state.”