ELKINS — The Elkins City Council approved using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds to create wayfinding signs for downtown.

During the council’s June 11 meeting, all nine present council members voted in favor of Resolution 1933, which accepts and authorizes the execution of an agreement with the Mills Group to design wayfinding signs, authorizes the expenditure of TIF funds and directs the Municipal Properties Committee to assist with the project. First Ward Council member Robert Chenoweth was absent from the meeting.

According to Resolution 1933, the wayfinding signs project is intended to support downtown revitalization, visitor orientation, placemaking and “broader Tax Increment Financing District No. 1 development objectives.” The resolution accepts and authorizes execution of the Mills Group agreement, authorizes expenditure of TIF funds for the project, directs participation by the Municipal Properties Committee in review and development of concepts and locations and authorizes related administrative implementation actions.

As part of the agreement with the Mills Group, the City will pay a $7,500 lump-sum professional services fee, plus limited reimbursable expenses, using Tax Increment Financing District No. 1 funds.

In January 2023, the City of Elkins submitted an application to the state to issue bonds in order to fund projects through Tax Increment Financing, or TIF. The TIF application was approved in April 2023. The TIF allows the city to collect any tax increases on the properties that are mapped in the TIF area for the next 30 years. The tax collections that go towards the TIF come from the City of Elkins, the Randolph County Commission, the Randolph County Board of Education and the State of West Virginia.

“We are pleased to provide the design and graphics for wayfinding signage at four key locations in Elkins, WV… to direct motorists to the Downtown Historic District,” a letter to City Council from the Mills Group states. “It is the understanding of Mills Group that examples of signage were provided as part of the streetscape design, but no graphics have been developed or signage specified.”

The Mills Group said in its letter that they will provide a completed concept design package along with graphics for review. The designs will be “superimposed and simulated” into existing site photographs to show how they might appear once installed.

According to the report attached to Resolution 1933, the wayfinding signs will be placed at four key gateway locations within the City, but the fabrication and installation of the signs would be a separate contract and might require public bidding, “to be determined later.”

During the council’s May 21 meeting, all 10 council members voted to approve Resolution 1919, “authorizing advancement of certain TIF District #1 projects and related engineering and procurement actions.” Resolution 1919 permits the City’s TIF Advisory Committee to move forward on the Downtown Streetscape Improvements, Riverfront Redevelopment and Beautification and Glendale Park Skills Area projects. It also further authorizes the “utilization of available TIF Fund revenues and awarded outside funding sources to support engineering, design, planning and related project activities.”