The Wha? Column: Your Logo Matters

This weeks column is not going to focus completely on social media but on a subject that ties everything from your business, brand, products, services, promotional items and even stationary together.  That is your logo.  Take a look around you and you’ll see logos everywhere.  On the soda can, your computer, phone, pen, shoes, shirt, and the list goes on.  As you can see, logos are important for your business and brand and you should make sure you have a professionally designed logo for your business.  If you already have a logo, re-evaluate it and make sure it truly represents the image you want your customers to see.

Logos are the face of your business and brand and are one of the most important elements that your customers will see.  The logo identifies your business and the better the logo represents your brand, the easier it is for people to recognize and remember you.  Logos also convey trust with customers and give them a sense of security that you are a legit business.   Take for example searching for a lawn care business.  You might come across two businesses and one may have a well-designed logo while the other one is very generic and not well designed.  Which one conveys more legitimacy and a sense they are well established and know what they are talking about?  Usually the company with the better logo does.  So you can see how important it is to think about what you want your logo to convey.

Logos are usually designed with creative fonts and unique symbols.  Think about Google, Nike, Apple, and Coca Cola.  As soon as you see their logos, you have it engrained in your memory of exactly what type of company they are and what products they offer.  You want people to instantly recognize your logo and to identify that with what you offer. 

You will have to take in consideration the areas where your logo will be displayed.  Is it going to be on your products, your website, social media, and promotional items?  It’s important to know these things when you are designing the logo because you want to make sure your logo can be resized without losing quality and you should keep colors to a minimum because the price of printing rises as you introduce more colors.

A well thought out and creative logo can do wonders for your business and brand.  It must be really important if all the biggest corporations and businesses are spending thousands of dollars on their logo designs.  There are many places now that offer great services and can design a wonderful logo for your business.  Here are a few design sites that I have found as well as a great site for logo inspiration.

http://www.logospire.com/

http://www.logo-design-studio.com/

http://www.thelogofactory.com/

http://thelogocompany.net/

When it comes to your business, your logo matters.  

UCI City Council and Board of Works Minutes

For City Council minutes, Click Here

For Board of Works minutes, Click Here

Notice Of Executive Sessions

City of Union City

Board of Public Works and Safety 

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. 

Council Chambers Conference Room

111 North Columbia Street

Union City, Indiana

To receive information about and interview prospective employees

pursuant to IC  5-14-1.5-6.1 (b) (5)   

- Mayor Bryan K. Conklin 

Local Artists Will Participate In Muncie Arts Walk

Local Artists Jolie and Jamie Noggle will have an Art Opening during the Muncie Arts Walk on Thursday, February 2nd at 5 p.m. Their artwork will be on display in the 111 Arts Gallery and Tattoo Studio. Jolie's artwork is primarily collage and altered art and Jamie's artwork is primarily tattoo flash style watercolor paintings. You can view Jolie's work at www.mrsnoggle.etsy.com and Jamie's at www.jme-art.weebly.com

Please support local artists and musicians.  

Your Acoustic Uncles This Saturday Night

Your Acoustic Uncles have been garnering much attention after only a few live shows. With each show, larger crowds are coming to see great live and original music. Not only have they been attracting attention at their live shows, many of you might have heard them recently on the Ft. Wayne NPR radio show "Meet The Music" and you can hear "Dusty Road" unplugged on their YouTube channel. Y.A.U. will be playing this Saturday at the Bowling Alley in Union City, OH with Dyslexic Funk, another Union City act slowly gaining momentum. Dyslexic Funk will take the stage at 10 p.m. and Y.A.U around 11:30 p.m. Don't miss out on this event and remember to support local musicians and artists!

The Wha? Column: Say No To SOPA

I have been working on this weeks column and have decided to scrap it due to the January 24th voting on the Protect IP Act (PIPA and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in Congress.  It's very important that the public understands what these two bills could do to American businesses and the Web.  There have been a wide array of websites that have gone black in protest of SOPA.  Google, Wikipedia, and Craigslist are a few of the well known sites. You can find more information here on these two bills and you can sign the petition and oppose SOPA and PIPA.  It only takes a few secondes of your time to sign the petition.  Thank you for reading this weeks column.

Union City Wrestlers Are County Champs!!

Congratulations to the Union City Indians for becoming County Champions in Wrestling!!

Photographs by Josiah Bryan. JDBryanPhotography.com

Photos: UCCHS Boys Basketball vs. Monroe Central

The Indians were defeated 65-59 against the Golden Bears of Monroe Central in the Friday night match-up. For additional photos, please visit the gallery.

Photo by Josiah Bryan JDBryanPhotography.com

UCI Public Meeting Minutes

We will be posting the minutes from the City Council, Board of Works, and other public meetings when they become available.  We hope this will help inform everyone with what is happening in our city government and hopefully encourage people to become involved with our city.

Board of works 12/19/2011 - Click Here

City Council 12/19/2011 - Click Here

Park Board 12/19/2011 - Click Here

Dr. Susan Pyle Speaks At Rotary Luncheon

On January 3rd, Dr. Susan Pyle gave a speech at the Rotary Luncheon outlining the Board of Works.  Dr. Pyle presented a clear view of who and what is involved in the BOW.  Union City Now is fortunate to be able to present that speech in its entirety.

Board of Works: By Dr. Susan Pyle

Union City is a 3rd class city. IC 36-4-9-2 gives the executive (the Mayor) the authority to appoint various boards. Two of these are the Board of Public Works and the Board of Public Safety. By Union City Ordinance, this is combined to be called the Board of Works and Safety. Its members are the Mayor and two citizens appointed by the Mayor. If the mayor did not want to do this, he could appoint the city manager. In Union City, the Mayor has served, and the City Manager functions as a vital adviser to the Board.

In Union City, this is a 3 member board. It could be 5 members by law. The mayor could appoint a 5 member board by having the city publish notice under IC 5-3-1. A member of the Board may hold other positions in city government. There is a clerk of the board, and this is the Union City Clerk-Treasurer. 

Under IC 36-4-9-8, the Mayor shall also appoint: a city attorney, a fire chief, a police chief, and other officer, employees, boards and commissions as required by statute.

The Board of Public Works and Safety of Union City meets the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month at 8 a.m. in the conference room of the Council Chambers building. It is a public meeting by law. In addition to the three members of the Board and the Clerk, it is expected that the Chief of Police, the Fire Chief, the Water Supervisor, the Waste Water Treatment Plant Supervisor, the Supervisor of the Street, Parks, and Cemetery, and the City Manager shall be in attendance. Any citizen may attend either to observe or present business. If a citizen wishes to speak, he or she must state name and address, and reason for speaking. If a citizen has a complaint, they should come to the BOW because the Board directs the actions of the departments, and can also determine if ordinances are being followed. The City Council is a nice public forum, but the action has to happen at the Board meeting. If a citizen has a problem with a utility, the Board should hear that too.  Adjustment of bills, such as with a water problem, are decided at the Board meeting.

Each supervisor then takes a turn in presenting what is going on in their department, presenting reasons why they need to purchase something, reporting on the status of their employees and use of any overtime. Their budget to date is analyzed by the Board. One of the measures instituted by Mayor Conklin, Clerk Amspaugh, and Manager Poling is that when the cut in the property tax cut the payment to the general fund of the city, a supervisor can not spend more than $50 without the approval of the Clerk or Manager. It has made them think twice about buying something unless they really needed it. Items up to $10,000 can be approved by the Board of Works or the City Manager if the Board has discussed the situation and feels that he can make the decision for that item. Anything over $10,000 must be approved by the City Council.

It is IMPORTANT to know where the money comes from and we decide where it goes by having each department do a budget. Once we have made the department supervisor defend his budget, it goes to the City Council for final approval. Our property taxes and some other revenue sources go to the General Fund.  This pays for the police, fire and ambulance service, parks, streets, and cemetery. The ambulance service has a non-reverting fund which the fire department spends on that service but under the budget reviewed by the BOW and approved by the City Council. There are other non-reverting funds, but they do not usually generate the funds that the Ambulance non-reverting fund does. The Water and Waste Water Treatment departments are utilities and are funded entirely by user fees. No general tax money pays for any of their service. Their budgets are approved by the Board and then the Council.

Any work being done for the city is done by a bid process. The Board prefers 3 bids. We TRY to buy locally if we can. We do not have to take the lowest bid, but the best bid for the work. Also, we try very hard to do all things equal so that the bidders are bidding for the equipment we want or the work we want done. Past experience with vendors plays a part in this.

The Board is also part of the interview process for new hires. New people for the fire and police have to pass tests for the position, and then they get to face the Board.

To summarize:  The City Council passes the budgets and makes the laws of the city through ordinances.  The Board of Public Works and Safety puts those budgets and ordinances into action.  ALL OF THIS IS TO MAKE UNION CITY A BETTER PLACE IN WHICH TO LIVE, WORK, AND PLAY.