County to feature logo on new license plates
Because he can't wear one at the office, Billy Clayton lives in baseball hats while running errands during the weekend.
On Saturday, the county's Water and Sewer Service Director was stopped at Wal-Mart by a shopper admiring his newest headwear.
"They said they liked it and it looked nice," said Clayton, who was sporting the county's new blue and white, sailboat logo baseball hat. "If that's going to be our county logo, I'm ready to put it out there."
The logo, adopted last month to replace the 12-year-old New Horizons logo, is starting to pop up around the county, and officials are preparing for a vehicle tag that residents will be able to purchase and spread the new image.
The county is planning to put out an order for 5,000 vanity license plates with the logo. Though it will not be an official car tag, the plates will be placed on the front of county work vehicles and available for the public to buy.
"We talk about a community of pride, we want people to know when they look at that (the license), they think of Columbia County," said Marilyn Heuer, the county's special projects administrator. "Some of them, we're going to put on the county trucks and cars that we see around the county."
The design has not yet been finalized, and Heuer said she is unsure which county offices the plates will be available to the public. But she said she expects the them to take six weeks to go out to bid and come back as finished products.
The proceeds from the license plates will benefit some of the county's building projects, possibly the new library and performing arts center being built off North Belair Road.
Heuer said the Columbia County Board of Commissioners would soon decide the details of the license plates.
County officials recently agreed to spend $12,500 on materials with the new logo for the license plates, and 1,000 lapel pins and 375 baseball hats and sun visors.
The money already was included in the county's budget for the year to promote and advertise the logo.
The hats and visors will be handed out to visiting business executives during the Red Carpet Tour and Augusta Showcase events during Masters Week.
A newly purchased senior citizens van is the first county vehicle to feature the new logo, and Heuer said the image will be added on replacement vehicles when older members of the county fleet are taken out.
Clayton said he is looking forward to adding the plates to his department's trucks to promote the new logo.
"The tag to put on the front of our work vehicles is a very cheap, inexpensive way to get it out there," he said, "so that people can make that connection."
County officials are looking at prototype designs, such as the one above, for a license plate displaying the county's new logo. The plates will be placed on county vehicles and available for the public to buy.