Sometimes, you CAN have too much of a good thing.

That’s the lesson that members of the Clinton County Tourism Commission learned recently after the unveiling and installation of the Hometown Heroes banners throughout the Albany city limits.

When employees with the City of Albany began putting in place the 44 banners that had been ordered by the families and friends of the local veterans – our Hometown Heroes – the phone calls and messages began to flood into the office of April Speck.

Speck, the Administrative Assistant for the Clinton County Tourism Commission, was bombarded with requests from additional family members and friends of veterans who also wanted to secure banners to join those already in place.

In all, Speck reported to the Commission members that she had received over 100 requests in one form or another, for additional banners.

That’s where the snag was encountered by the Tourism Commission.

At its regular meeting last Tuesday, the Commission learned from Brooks Ferguson and Trent Groce, the City of Albany employees who worked to install the Heroes banners, that it would not be possible to install any additional banners.

Ferguson and Groce explained that currently the city only owned enough post brackets to hold the 44 banners currently in place, and even if more brackets were made or bought, there was only a handful of utility poles that additional banners could be placed on.

They also explained that an option of double hanging the banners on the utility poles could not be considered due to safety precautions in placing the banners on the street side of the utility poles would put them in a position of being struck by high semi-trucks and trailers.

After a lengthy discussion between the Tourism Commission members and the city employees, Commission member Al Gibson entered a motion, which passed by unanimous vote, stating: “Due to the limitations of available utility poles and installation hardware, the Hometown Heroes banners that are currently installed will be considered a full installation for “Round One” and “Round Three” to be in place now until September and again in May until September 2019. A future “Round Two” and “Round Four” will be available for another 44 banners that will be installed for January to April 2019 and again January to April 2020. The costs of each banner will be $150. The sale of the banners will be to the first 44 people who have made full payment to the Clinton County Tourism Commission.”

It was also noted that if the condition of the banners remained usable and presentable after the first two rounds of installation each, they would be put in place for a third round each, as was originally planned when the campaign was originally announced.

The Commission noted during the meeting that they were all extremely pleased with the way the public has expressed enthusiasm overall for the project, and they also expressed their gratitude to the crew from the City of Albany who worked during the nighttime hours to get the banners installed.

It was also noted that due to the nature of the banners being printed on a flexible vinyl material, they would, when presented against the elements of nature, move and even stretch to some extent, causing some of the banners to appear wrinkled from time to time.

The installers said that some family members had contacted them about adjusting the banners and some had even requested that the banners be moved to other locations.

They pointed out that they had taken care to make sure the banners were hanging straight during the initial installation, and they weren’t able to be constantly readjusting the banners.

The Commission members noted that they understood the cause of the wrinkling issues and thanked the crew for going above and beyond normal work duties to install the banners.

The Commission stressed to the public to please not contact the City of Albany about making adjustments to the banners once they have been put into place.

Speck told the Clinton County News this week that she had already secured payment for nearly all of the banner spaces that would be available for the next installation roiund, and probably only 10 or less remained available.

Speck is on vacation this week, but will be available beginning next Monday, July 2, at the Welcome Center.