The Haverhill City Council Tuesday sent a request from the city’s Historic Commission to allow uniform signage for historic homes to its Administration and Finance Committee for final review.
The proposal, brought forth by Councilor Devan M. Ferreira and members of the Highlands Neighborhood Association would, as WHAV reported Tuesday, implement a citywide historic sign program where homeowners could place signage to denote its historic nature, including the name of the first owner and year built inside a decorative outline.
Ferreira, who introduced the program, noted the city may need to explore how to procure signs for homes and whether the city or homeowner would pay for it.
“The city’s involvement with this effort is a little unclear. It’s largely being a volunteer, neighborhood-based initiative,” said Community Development Division Director Andrew K. Herlihy, representing the Historic Commission. “But several cities, Newburyport has a program, Westford, Stoneham, different communities have this and in those cases the cities and towns, some are more hands on, and some are more hands off in their administration of this.”
He added, “If we are procuring a number of signs from a company that’s advertised on the city’s website, perhaps there’s a need, perhaps that may show an issue there, that there’s some sort of public procurement or public endorsement of that company.”
Mayor Melinda E. Barrett noted the city has to follow state procurement law if the program is “wildly popular,” and if “it seems like the city has endorsed it or is involved with it somehow.”
Ferreira clarified that the city would not collect money from residents looking to purchase signs.
“In which case, it’s mostly being posted on the city’s website as an umbrella of the Historical Commission,” Ferreira said. “From that point forward, it’s up to the individual customer to follow up with the business to purchase their own sign. So, there’s no money exchanging through the city, there’s no collection, no invoicing, there’s nothing on that end.”
Following a motion by Councilor Melissa J. Lewandowski and a second from Councilor Shaun P. Toohey, members voted unanimously to send the proposal to the Council’s Administration and Finance Committee for a final review.