After much discussion at its Wednesday regular meeting, the city of Aberdeen City Council decided to table a vote on the proposed new Wishkah River Bridge sign welcoming people to the city.

The council considered a request from the Arts Commission to approve the selection of artwork from artist Tim Girvin to be placed on the Wishkah River Bridge.

Earlier this year, the City Council approved a $15,000 Lodging Tax grant to replace the “Welcome to Aberdeen” sign on the Wishkah River Bridge. Eight artists responded to a request for proposals (RFP).

According to the meeting’s agenda packet, the city’s Arts Commission evaluated each proposal against 10 specific categories detailed in the RFP including: artistic merit and originality; relevance to Aberdeen’s identity; public appeal for residents and visitors; artist qualifications; long-term durability; completeness of the submission; cultural and community sensitivity (including Quinault Indian Nation heritage); family-friendly visibility; innovative day-and-night readability; and alignment with the city’s long-term vision.

After a first-round review on May 1, three finalists refined their concepts. On May 14, the Arts Commission re-evaluated the updates and selected a concept created by Tim Girvin.

Reactions to the proposed sign design have been mixed at best. Residents commenting on Facebook indicated that they prefer the current sign or they feel the proposed design doesn’t honor the city’s history or found it confusing.

Others like the fresh approach with something new and modern. City Councilor Kacey Ann Morrison led the charge soliciting feedback on social media, and made the motion to table the vote on the new sign. Morrison took to Facebook Thursday to post an update from the city council meeting.

“I took all the feedback received from my initial post about the sign design and shared them all with the council and Mayor (Douglas Orr) prior to the meeting Wednesday evening. Council also shared some thoughts and concerns of their own,” Morrison wrote. “We hear you loud and clear. I motioned to table this item until the next council meeting, which will be the second week in June. The council concurred and voted to approve bringing this up at that time to offer the public more opportunity to provide input, as well as to view the other designs and discuss revisions or alternatives. We will advertise this and other feedback mechanisms in the coming days via social media, the city website, radio, and print media. I hope you will take the opportunity to participate and I sincerely thank all of you that (have) shared comments so far.”

The council also discussed adding a slogan to the design concept that encourages motorists to visit the city rather than just pass through and decided more conversation on that topic was also warranted.