A divided Orangeville council has narrowly rejected the town hall as a potential site for an electronic message sign being donated by the Orangeville Kinsmen Club.

A motion by councillor Scott Wilson to accept the site preferred by the Kinsmen, at the corner of Broadway and Second Street, lost 4-3 when Mayor Rob Adams broke a tie. The motion was supported by councillors Sylvia Bradley and Gail Campbell, but the Mayor and councillors Mary Rose and Gary Kocialek agreed with Deputy Mayor Warren Maycock that the sign would not fit in well with the downtown area's heritage theme.

Their position echoed a stand taken in a letter to council from Lynda Addy of Heritage Orangeville. She said that while Heritage Orangeville supported having the sign, it could not support locating it around the town hall.

"We stress again that since the creation of the Downtown Heritage Conservation District and the Heritage Sign Special Policy District, all new signage has been moving away from less compatible forms of signage toward signage that enhances the District. ... Granting an exemption for this sign would be a step backwards in the process."

After the vote was taken, Councillor Campbell said she had no particular objection to the remaining two suggested sites, but preferred one on East Broadway near the McDonald's restaurant to one at the north end of town near the junction of First Street and Highway 10.

In a report to council, communications officer Sheila Duncan noted that either of two proposed town hall locations "would require an exemption to the sign bylaw, as it is in the heritage district."

The site seemingly preferred by most of the council would be west of the McDonald's "exit" driveway, where Ms. Duncan noted the town has a fair-sized right-ofway "and the sign could be accommodated without obstructing sight lines."

Although the site isn't in the heritage district, the sign would still require an exemption from the sign bylaw as a stand-alone sign. "This location would require a dedicated phone line to be connected to a modem in the sign to operate the system or ... a wireless modem in the sign and staff having to take a laptop [computer] to the site to operate the sign on a regular basis."

She said other sites, such as Broadway and Fourth Street, East Broadway in front of Tim Hortons and the Police Services building on C Line had been eliminated in the town's evaluation process.

The sign would bear the Kinsmen logo but be property of the Town, which would have to maintain it and update its messages on a regular basis. It would be similar in appearance and operation to one in front of the Dufferin Child and Family Services building on Riddell Road.