Signs again at center of Town Council's discussion

Since early April, the Town of La Conner has relied on increased signage to get the word out on social distancing requirements imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The message has now become less is more.

The digital reader board that has projected a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” message near the roundabout has been returned to the rental company, Mayor Ramon Hayes told Town Council members during their video-conferenced May 12 session.

“The reader board,” Hayes told the Weekly News afterward, “has reached the peak of its need. It has served its purpose.”

Hayes said signage has been necessary to reinforce statewide mandates intended to hold COVID-19 in check. Different tones and approaches have been employed, some better received than others.

A “Locals Only” sign initially placed at the east entrance to town was quickly removed. The reader board, bearing a slogan reinforcing Gov. Jay Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy initiative, was leased for the April weekends that traditionally bring heavy traffic volumes here.

Though less controversial, the reader board did have its critics. One group briefly modified the reader board message by posing beneath it while holding a handmade sign reading: “We are still open and being safe.”

La Conner has also been dotted with small barricade signs upon which social distancing reminders are posted, and taped sidewalk squares spaced six feet apart in which customers are to stand while waiting for orders at businesses allowed to be open.

Two of the social distancing signs turned up missing from Conner Waterfront Park the weekend before last, Town Public Works Director Brian Lease told Town Council members.

Lease said the signboards were later found floating in Swinomish Channel.

“We found them in the drink,” he said. “I guess they offended someone, and they threw them in the channel.”

The Council has opted for now to retain the social distancing signs and standing-in-line customer boxes, though someone has repeatedly removed the taped boxes from the sidewalk at Stompin’ Grounds.

The private night-time security patrol hired the past month in response to a rash of local vandalism and thefts has also been removed. The patrol, like the reader board, has been retired to save costs.

The firm was paid through the Town code enforcement budget, Hayes said.

“We needed it,” he said, “but things still happened. With police and security, nobody can be everywhere all the time.”

He referred to major recent break-ins at La Conner Schools and the Town Public Works Department, cases the Council discussed at length.

“The security patrol helped,” Councilmember Mary Wohleb said, “but we still had incidents happen.”

Lease said security camera footage provided good images of the Public Works break-in, but that the suspect’s identity was concealed by a mask.

Councilmember Jacques Brunisholz suggested installing additional cameras as an alternative to block watch or citizen patrol options going forward.

“Maybe we should have more security cameras, as much as I hate them,” Brunisholz said. “They’d probably be more effective than having someone walk around.”

Town Administrator Scott Thomas, a former prosecuting attorney, cautioned against total reliance on security cameras.

“With regard to cameras,” he said, “I’ve looked through a lot of videotape. They’re not a gold bullet or silver bullet. They’re helpful. But a lot of it depends on the quality of the camera and light.”

Thomas said the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, with whom La Conner contracts for law enforcement services, has vouched for the merits of block watches and citizen patrols.

“Chad Clark, the undersheriff, believes both would be of value,” Thomas said. “They (the sheriff’s office) are taking a larger role and responsibility. I don’t recommend that we take it on, on our own.”

Regarding two real estate matters, the Council remained in favor of both selling and buying. Members voiced support for re-listing the Kirsch waterfront property on North First Street, which previously had been eyed as a public park. Hayes said he has been advised that if the Town listed the site at $249,000 it could realize $200,000 after commissions.

“We’re in a financial position,” said Wohleb, noting the present COVID-related economic downturn, “where we need to liquidate the property.”

“If someone is interested in it now,” Councilmember Bill Stokes said, “it would be a good thing.”

Brunisholz and Councilmember John Leaver also voiced support for continuing to market the property.

However, Planning Commissioner Linda Talman urged the Council to keep alive prospects for developing the Kirsch location as a park, expressing optimism the local economy will rebound.

“I’m hoping,” she said, “that the Kirsch Property won’t disappear. I don’t think it will take a long time for property values to come up.”

As for the Hedlin’s ballfield property off Maple Avenue, four of five Council members – Stokes the lone dissenter – have agreed in principle to secure a $37,000 one-year option toward purchase of the nearly two-acre public use area for a combination residential development and park. A final agreement is being revised and could not be acted upon last week.

The Town has for decades leased the property as youth sports fields. The Hedlin family has given the Town first shot at buying the property, and with one-fourth of it designated as a park the Town would be eligible to receive state grant funding for the project.

Stokes has voiced concern about the Town making a major property purchase during uncertain economic times.

“I was hoping to have a final agreement in front of you,” Thomas told the Council. “My intent is to get in touch with the Hedlin’s attorney to finalize the agreement and bring it back to the Council for final action.”

By contrast, the Council readily reached agreement for the Chamber of Commerce to relocate at $1 per month to the Fireside Room of Maple Hall. Loss of revenue linked to the COVID-19 necessitated the move.

“It’s a good deal,” Thomas stressed, “that’s intended to facilitate the Chamber’s efforts to bring business to town.”

Information for “attending” the May 26 Council meeting: townoflaconner.org.