When planned improvements are made in Fountain Park this summer they will be installing new bollard-style walkway lights, but thus far the Town Council remains lukewarm to erecting a digital LED sign to advertise park and town events.

Community Services Director Mark Mayer asked the council for direction at a recent meeting regarding the light design and monument signs for the Phase 6 project, which had been approved previously.

The council voted unanimously to have Mayer go forward with a plan for the bollard lighting that will line the concrete walkway through the park.

These lights will be roughly 42 inches in height and will be made of stainless steel or aluminum. They will cast lighting downward without directing any light skyward.

But still remaining is whether or not to install monument signs at three locations near Saguaro and El Lago boulevards, at Palisades and El Lago and at El Lago and Panorama Drive.

The signs would be 21 feet in length and about four feet high. “Fountain Park” would be installed with 14-inch brushed aluminum lettering with a two-foot by 16-foot recess within the larger monument.

The council had discussed with staff a plan to install a digital LED screen on one of the monument signs to promote current and upcoming activities.

Mayer presented a draft design that would have a pedestal for the electronic sign roughly seven feet square on top of the Fountain Park monument.

The LED screen itself would be six feet wide by four feet in height. Overall the sign would be 11 feet in height from ground level.

Vice Mayor Cassie Hansen said the plan appears to be too high. Mayer said there are visibility considerations that go into determining the size and height.

Councilman Cecil Yates asked for clarification that the sign would go “static” after 10 p.m. He noted that does not mean dark, but simply maintain a simple non-changing message through the night.

“It looks like a giant TV,” Councilman Dennis Brown said. “Could something be done to soften the appearance?”

“The cost concerns me when we have other needs,” Councilman Henry Leger said. “I’m not a fan of putting LED signs in the park. This is not the right place.”

Mayer said the cost estimate on the individual monument signs is $30,000. The electronic sign would add another $30,000 to one of the signs for a total of $60,000.

Mayer is proposing to use the sign location at Saguaro and Palisades for the LED board. He also suggested they could wire the monument base for the possibility of adding the electronic sign at a later time.

Councilman Tait Elkie mentioned that a previous discussion had talked about a smaller version within the park that people could see while on foot around the park.

“I would like to table this for further discussion,” Elkie said.

The motion to table carried unanimously, 7-0.

DLR Group is preparing the design for the project with the objective of b being ready for bid by June with construction to be completed over the summer.