Overton Taking Bids On Digital Sign For County And UT Extension

Overton County is taking bids to place a digital sign by its UT Extension Office.

Overton County Executive Steven Barlow said the sign will be used by the UT Extension Office’s 4-H program, the election office and the county executive office. He said the sign will be used to announce county meetings, 4-H information and making the public aware of other important events. Barlow said the location of the sign is convenient.

“We wanted it right there beside the 4-H office and they’re right beside of us,” Barlow said. “So the digital sign will be right in between the both of us. They’re getting a lot of the use from it. Our 4-H department do a fantabulous job. I’m just saying, fantastic people over there.”

Barlow said he hopes the sign will help get the community more involved with the County.

Barlow said he had no estimate of how much it would cost for the sign. The majority of the cost will be paid for by the extension service.

“They’re going to be paying for over half the sign,” Barlow said. “So, the county has taken in and budgeted for it. They went through the budget process on trying to save up to provide this sign for them. A lot of the money is actually going to be coming from UT and TSU.”

Barlow said the bidding process has just started and there is not a timeline on the project at the moment. He said he hopes the sign is up as soon as possible.

“We can tell when schools are closed or whenever the office building is going to be closed stuff like that,” Barlow said. “Getting people involved in the county business is what I’d like to see. Getting the community more involved in what their government is doing and just kind of being part of that process. When we have committee meetings and stuff like that, we love people to come and show up and see what we’re doing.”

Barlow said it was important to help support agriculture as much as agriculture helps support the county.

“Beef is our number one around here, so when they offer beef classes and things like that, it’s just something people might be interested in,” Barlow said. “If you don’t know it’s going on then you might not be able to take advantage of it, but if you come by and see they are offering this class you might be interested. It might help somebody.”