Lack of signage is causing problems at admin building

Supervisors tabled a request to add a new sign to the east entrance of the county administration building, which maintenance director Adam Sparks said is needed because staff at juvenile probation are frequently redirecting visitors who entered the wrong door to access the treasurer’s office services.

Currently, the administration building has three entrances: the west entrance, the north entrance and the east entrance. Sparks said there are signs on only two of the three entrances, which he lamented was not caught earlier. Regardless, not having proper signage is causing some issues.

“Let’s just say 90 percent of the people that are coming into this building are looking for the (department of transportation/motor vehicles) of some sort,” Sparks said to the board of supervisors on Oct. 4. “The other 10 percent is going to all the other offices that are over there.”

Customers are entering the wrong side of the building to access the driver’s license, motor vehicles and property tax services, which forces them to walk through the building and find their way to these locations. Even when they enter the wrong door, Sparks said there isn’t enough signage to direct people.

Of note, there are directories that tell people where to access certain departments. But some people cannot make sense of it.

As a result, people are opening the first door they come across to ask the first person they see. Unfortunately, that first person that they see right now is a staff member from juvenile probation, Sparks said, who gets about 20 people a day asking her where the driver’s license department is.

“When you come in that door, that door is specifically marked,” Sparks said. “It’s marked who’s in that hallway and the only people in that hallway is adult and juvenile probation. The sign says ‘Jasper County Offices.’ The letter on the door says ‘adult and juvenile probation.’ The other two doors are also marked.”

Even with those designations on the door, Sparks argued they cannot be seen by customers who are already face to face with the glass. Customers are given one of two choices: walk around on the outside or walk through the building.

Sparks said complaints from the public say on the two doors that are labeled, depending on which way a person drives down the road he or she might see the sign. So driving in one direction the sign is visible while driving in the other direction the sign is not.

“The reason they’re telling me they’re going through the other two doors is because they’re marked Jasper County Offices,” Sparks said.

Ultimately, people are looking for the driver’s license/motor vehicles departments. Sparks initially thought to have the new sign state “Jasper County Offices,” but he also considered the idea of having a east side sign more specific to nearby services after speaking with county treasurer Doug Bishop.

“Which he’s probably not wrong if we make it as specific to the treasurer/DMV because we’re trying to catch the 90 percent of the people going into that building and looking for that specific office,” Sparks said. “If we write ‘Jasper County Offices’ on this sign and put it up there … they may still walk in the other doors.”

Sparks provided supervisors with quotes from Newton businesses Sign Pro and Performance Sign Company for the installation of the Jasper County Offices sign. Sign Pro provided a quote of $3,925. Performance Sign Company provided a quote of $4,566. But with other ideas on the table, supervisors held off on a vote.

Other issues the administration building has come across is the address for the driver’s license department at 315 W. Third St. N. suite 500 — when searched on Google Maps — directs drivers to the nearby Lions Gate Apartments, further emphasizing the need for some kind of specific signage.

Bishop said claims have been submitted to Google to address that problem. He, too, emphasized the need for signage by sharing the number of visits his office received these past months. In August, there were a little more than 5,000 customers who entered the treasurer’s office; September saw more than 7,000.

“If you put ‘Jasper County Driver’s License, Motor Vehicle, Property Taxes’ on there, you’re filtering 70 to 80 percent of those folks. You’re still going to have some folks who go the wrong way or whatever, but I don’t blame adult probation. I wouldn’t want to be a traffic cop for us all day long either,” Bishop said.

Jasper County Supervisor Doug Cupples proposed the sign could say “Jasper Co.” and then use the extra space to add the services available at the east entrance. Other ideas were shared by the maintenance director, treasurer and supervisors, prompting the board to postpone their action.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext 560 or at cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com