By Amira Van Leeuwen
KYLE — In a 5-1 decision, city council directed city staff to install “Police Department” signage on the front of the Public Safety Center, as shown in Tuesday’s regularly scheduled city council meeting.
The freshly sworn-in city council member, Miguel Zuniga, voted in dissent.
Ryan Rosborough, vice president of AG/CM, presented several design renderings with different verbiage and design elements.
Council member Daniela Parsley took a liking to the mock-up that said “Police Department” with stars on either side of the text and is slightly arched.
Zuniga said he liked rendering three because it was a “cleaner” look.
“I just thought the stars were a little much everywhere,” Zuniga said.
During the discussion, Parsley called upon police chief Jeff Barnett to hear his thoughts.
“I’m gonna give you the political answer. We’re happy to work in any building titled whatever you want,” Barnett said. “We’re just so happy to get the building.”
Tobias suggested removing the KPD signs in the old police department building and applying them to the Public Safety Center building.
“There’s no budget amendment; all we have to do is installation fees. Not only that, you could bring some kind of nostalgia to it to where people can say, ‘Hey that was the original P-O-L-I-C-E logos that were on the same building from the old one,’” council member Michael Tobias said.
Council member Yvonne Flores-Cale stated that this item was not meant to be political.
“It was a genuine question because I had someone say, ‘I don’t care what it’s called,’ and I’m like, you don’t because you’ve never had to walk into a police department as somebody who may be a victim or a rape victim and needs to go to a police department,” Flores Cale said.
Mayor Travis Mitchell thought the additional signage was a “solid compromise” and was happy to support it.
City council will meet again on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. for the first public hearing of the Downtown Master Plan at city hall.
