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New Bedford County sign shop is a money saver

Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at 11:17 am

By MARK MCGEE

mmcgee@bedfordcountypost.com

“Sign, sign everywhere a sign.”

That’s part of the chorus for the song “Signs” from 1971. It was technically the only major hit for the Five Man Electrical Band.

While it was one hit wonder for the band, producing and installing hundreds of signs has become a major part of the Bedford County Highway Department since November of 2024.

After having to outsource signs for several years Bedford County Road Superintendent Mark Clanton decided it was time for the department to start producing signs in-house.

“In the last two-and-a-half months the road signs and signs we have produced have saved us thousands of dollars if we had to buy those signs,” Clanton said. “If we had to buy these signs it would have been triple what we spend to make these signs.

“A normal stop sign would cost us $65 each to buy. We can make the same stop sign here for $17. That is what this sign room means to us. It is already close to paying for itself. This is a huge asset for this county.”

Clanton first decided he wanted the highway department to produce its own signs shortly after taking office in 2019.

“It is something I had been working on for five years in trying to get a sign room. We had a sign room when I was working with the city. We have more roads in the county than in the city so I thought it would be beneficial and save money to do it ourselves.

“The equipment we have is state of the art. It can make banners up to 60 inches wide and as long as we want to make it. Every sign in the county is made here. We also made the banners for the county’s entry in the Christmas Parade here.”

Out of 633 roads approximately 500 have new signs. In one day they replaced 68.

In charge of producing and installing the signs are Mitchell Sutton and Charles Kentfield.

“They are highly-talented to be able to do everything I need to have them get done,” Clanton said. “They have been in the sign room since the day we brought the equipment in. The sign room is an every-day job.”

Signs go missing or need replacing for a number of reasons, but the primary one is theft. A watermark is being added to the new signs to help in tracking down stolen signs. It is a federal offense to steal a sign.

“People will steal them as fast as we put them up,” Clanton said. “They will put up a 100 signs a day on road days.

“They check the roads and see what roads don’t have signs and what signs those roads need. They come back and make the signs for a couple of days. It is about a three-day process. It is a full-time job.”

Clanton’s future plans are for the county sign department to provide signage at a fee to outside sources.

“Highway systems across the state want us to make signs for them in the future,” Clanton said. “I told them they would have to wait until we had all of our signs completed. Once we get everything set up on our end we will start working for some other highway departments to recoup some of our costs.

“We are working on how to make decals for our trucks and equipment. This will save the county as a whole, not just the highway department. We have made about 20 signs for the Bedford County School System. Any department that needs signage can contact us and we can make it for them.”