Fairview's new welcome signs: the vote and the money

What the signs are

The contract replaces the city's three existing welcome signs, in the same spots: Highway 100 at Deer Ridge Road, 1325 Highway 96 and 1180 Fairview Boulevard. The design package dated Jan. 13, 2026 calls for aluminum sign panels with a gunmetal gray powder-coated finish, columns faced in Tennessee limestone and brushed stainless steel letters lit from behind. The sign at 1325 Highway 96 is also to carry a temporary Fire Department logo and "Sta. 32" lettering over the city logo while that site serves as Station 32.

The city, not the sign company, is responsible for taking down and removing the old signs. The contract is a single lump sum of $163,692 for all three, with 365 days to finish after the city gives notice to proceed, a performance bond and $250 a day in damages for each day past the deadline. Divided evenly, that works out to about $54,564 per sign, though the contract does not price the signs separately.

Where the money comes from

City officials have described it as bond money. On Aug. 7, 2025, a board member asked Daugherty whether the money for the signs was coming out of the city's bond. According to the meeting recording, he said yes, and described it as money that needed to be spent by the following year. A few minutes later, a board member asked whether the bond money "that has to be spent by December" was all accounted for. The reply, according to the recording, was: "Everything is spent on paper." Later that night, City Planner Ethan Greer said the sign money is only for the signs, not the landscaping around them, which has separate funding.

The city's 2025-26 budget lists $290,000 for welcome signs under bond account expenditures. A budget amendment on May 7, 2026 reduced that line by $90,000, to $200,000. The $163,692 contract fits inside it.

At the Aug. 7, 2025 meeting, the city's design firm, Kimley-Horn, gave rough estimates from a sign maker: $45,000 to $55,000 per sign for Concept A and $55,000 to $65,000 per sign for Concept B, the design using wood, or about $135,000 to $195,000 for all three. Asked about Concept C, the design the board later chose, the firm put it at about $75,000 to $80,000 per sign, well above the roughly $54,564 per sign the contract came to. In May 2025, a commissioner noted that $290,000 for three signs works out to about $97,000 each. Daugherty said the city would not spend close to that.

In the Facebook thread, one commenter described the money as "a use it or lose it grant." The Fairviewian found no grant for the signs in the resolutions, the contract, the budget, the minutes or the recorded meetings. What the recordings do describe is a bond-funded line with a deadline. The contract was approved Feb. 19, 2026, after the December date mentioned in 2025, and the recordings do not explain how the deadline applied. The city can.

The city's own books add a wrinkle. Its September 2026 statement of expenditures, part of the Oct. 22 meeting packet, has a "Welcome Signs" line under Administration in Fund 110, the general fund. It shows $165,202 spent or committed on the signs so far this fiscal year, which began July 1, against a budget of zero for the year; the report marks the line "No Budget." That is $1,510 more than the contract price. The report does not say what the extra covers, how much of the total has been paid to Jarvis and how much is only committed, or whether the money came from the bond.

After the vote

On March 19, 2026, Daugherty told the board that notice to proceed had been issued and that the contractor was finishing up the logos. By July, commissioners were discussing how the signs look. On July 23, City Manager Bob Rial said the signs were under review, with a question about the lighting and what the original design called for. According to the meeting recording, he said the original sign was supposed to be white, that it is hard to read in the daytime, and that he would meet with the designers. Bufalini said the signs are tough to see, day or night, especially when the sun is on them.

The question about the letters

The Oct. 1, 2026 commission agenda included a discussion item, "Welcome Signs," placed by Bufalini. Among its attachments was a Jarvis Signs proposal: $4,500 plus tax to remove the letters at all three locations, take them to the shop for powder coating and reinstall them. The design package called for brushed stainless steel letters, and the proposal shows color samples.

The packet did not say why the work is proposed or who would pay for it. Given the July discussion about how hard the signs are to read, it may be connected, but no one has said so. A commenter in the Facebook thread asked whether something went wrong with the first signs. Nothing in the packet or the recordings says so.

The item did not come to a vote. At the Oct. 1 meeting, with Mayor Anderson absent, Bufalini asked to postpone it until the full board was present. The board was told it was a discussion item that did not need a vote to postpone, so Bufalini withdrew it and asked that it go on the next agenda. The signs were back on the board's Oct. 22 agenda, again as a discussion item placed by Bufalini. The city has not yet posted minutes or a recording of that meeting, so this story does not yet say what was discussed there. Bufalini had also asked for an update on the signs at the Dec. 4, 2025 meeting.

What is still unanswered

• How the bond spending deadline applied to a contract approved in February 2026.
• Why the letters would be redone, and who would pay the $4,500 plus tax.
• Whether the lighting or the sign design will change.
• Why the signs' spending this fiscal year is on a line with no budget, and what the $1,510 beyond the contract price covers.
• What was said about the signs at the Oct. 22 meeting.

The Fairviewian sent questions on the funding, the signs' status and the letters to City Manager Bob Rial on Oct. 17. He had not replied by the time this was published. We will update this story when he does, and when the Oct. 22 minutes or recording are posted.

Sources: City of Fairview Board of Commissioners minutes for Aug. 7, 2025, Sept. 4, 2025, Dec. 4, 2025, Feb. 19, 2026, May 7, 2026 and July 23, 2026; Resolutions 39-25 and 07-26; the Jarvis Signs bid and executed contract; the Jan. 13, 2026 entry monument signage design intent package; the Sept. 3, 2025 sign voting results; the 2025-26 budget and May 2026 amendment; the Oct. 1, 2026 agenda and packet, including the Jarvis proposal to redo the letters; the Oct. 22, 2026 agenda packet, including the draft Oct. 1 minutes and the September 2026 statement of expenditures; and the city's recordings of its meetings on Aug. 7, 2025, Feb. 19, 2026, March 19, 2026, July 23, 2026 and Oct. 1, 2026. Quotes from recordings come from YouTube's automatic captions and should be checked against the video. City records are posted at fairview-tn.org.