By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Marion City Council member Zach Collett told other council members Monday he’d heard people ask why Marion businesses don’t have signs that stand out from the building.

“I personally like them,” Collett said.

He said buildings could look vacant even if signs were flat.

Mayor David Mayfield asked Collett whether the people who had questioned him were business owners. Collett answered that they were just people who had noticed there were no perpendicular signs on Main St.

“Why don’t we have Margo (Yates, community enrichment director) contact the businesses and see if they would be interested in this,” Mayfield said.

“If it’s done right, it can add a lot to your business,” Collett said.

City code long required business signs to be flat against the building. A university-sponsored beautification effort in the late 1980s urged all businesses to have flat rather than protruding signs. Further restrictions were added in 1993.

Marion National Bank has a sign that stands out from the building, but those are grandfathered in.

In other business, council members:

• Agreed to give Justin Loomis an additional two weeks to produce a written plan for rehabilitation of a house at 413 S. 4th St. that council members condemned two weeks ago for being unfit. Loomis told council members he misunderstood what was expected .
• Increased mileage rates paid to city employees who drive their own vehicles.
• Conducted three closed-door sessions to discuss a request of an applicant for city administrator. No decision was announced when open session resumed.