The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

15 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,January 17,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca NOTICE OF NOISE EXEMPTION APPLICATION Notice is hereby given that an application has been made to the Director of Municipal Enforcement Services of the City ofWaterloo for an exemption to the City ofWaterloo Noise By-law #2010-073 section 3.1a, schedule 2 item 13 - the operation of any construction equipment other than in connection with residential renovations - 7 pm one day to 7 am next day. The applicant, Prica Group, is requesting an exemption as follows: To permit sound of operating equipment required to install structural steel and precast concrete floor planks at 131 University Ave West, Waterloo. There will be 16 non-consecutive days of concrete pours between January 2019 and April 2019. Forty-eight hours of notice is to be given to the City of Waterloo and surrounding neighbors prior to any concrete pours. Anyonewishing to comment on thismatter should contactMunicipal Enforcement Services inwriting at 100 Regina St. S., Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 4A8, or via email tomunicipalenforcement@waterloo.ca, no later than 4:30 pm, Jan. 31, 2019. Questions regarding these events should be directed to Kyle Mitchell, Prica Group, at 226-972-3486 or kmitchell@pricagroupcm.com P. 519-886-1550 TTY. 1-866-786-3941 waterloo.ca/publicnotices NOTICE PROPOSED FEE CHANGES The Council of the Corporation of the City of Waterloo will consider proposed fee changes to the 2019 City Utilities rates at a public meeting which will be held on Monday, January 21, 2019, at a time to be determined, in the Council Chambers on the 3rd Floor located at City Hall, 100 Regina Street South, Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 4A8. If you would like to appear before Council on January 21, 2019 regarding this matter, please contact Legislative Services at 519-747-8549 or clerkinfo@waterloo.ca no later than 10:00 am, January 21, 2019. Further information is available by contactingMichael Pugliese at 519-886-2310 x30264. P. 519-886-1550 TTY. 1-866-786-3941 waterloo.ca/publicnotices It's not uncommon to see installers from West- mount Signs & Printing on the region's streetscape these days. Director of sales and marketing Simon Dowrick said there are usually signs going up at four to five dif- ferent locations each and every workday. Some are replacements, but many signal the start of new ventures in the down- town and uptown cores. "Business is booming," said Dowrick, acknowledg- ing that much of the growth is being driven by tech, retail, restaurants and post-secondary expan- sion. During the last 16 to 18 months, the company that offers a wide range of in- door and outdoor signage, banners, vinyl graphics and print jobs has doubled its number of employees from 12 to 24. The message board outside its 347 Weber St. N. location is currently recruiting experienced in- stallers. Tim Bezner, who pur- chased the company 14 years ago, said it's been an evolution of sorts. "It took us that long to get all pieces into place and to build a reputation that started selling itself," he said, adding that the down- fall of Research In Motion, a former customer, result- ed in a "spreading out" of tech talent that took West- mount with it. After recently purchas- ing another printing com- pany, Bezner seized an op- portunity to expand that side of his business into Kitchener's Catalyst137 tech hub, which has been recruiting tenants to com- plement its Internet-of- Things campus. Not only did Westmount create many of the exterior signs that now adorn the former tire plant on Glas- gow Street, it now offers branding and marketing materials within it. The growth of local tech has been a huge boost to business, Dowrick said, pointing to many former startups such as the Ctrl V Virtual Reality arcade on Columbia Street West, which despite its innova- tion still requires one of the oldest forms of marketing to help its expansion across North America. "We remain their sign people," Dowrick said. "We've shipped signs for them to the states and out west." A solid reputation has led to many other opportu- nities, such as the rebrand- ing of Piller's - which in- volves all of the meat pro- ducer's facilities, including those outside Kitchener - as well as signage for LPGA events that have sent crews as far west as Regina, a gig resulting from work done for tournaments here in Waterloo Region. "We've had over 40 per cent growth over last year and a big reason for that is that the transaction size is increasing because we are being awarded bigger con- tracts with larger-value jobs," Dowrick noted. One of Westmount's largest projects at the mo- ment is the Mississauga Executive Centre that Dowrick described as a 1,200-sign, two-year pro- ject. Bezner also recently purchased an electrical services company, bring- ing in a master electrician and two journeymen who will enhance the compa- ny's sign-making capabili- ties and open up opportuni- ties to service signs, lights, parking lots and LED retro- fit programs. Business success is de- pendent on keeping up with the times, as the hash- tag #morethanjustsigns suggests. In addition to a variety of promotional and station- ary materials, Westmount has added laser cutting and engraving to its promotion- al purveyance, and graphic designers now create web- sites in addition to busi- ness cards and letterhead. Signs don't just trans- late to sales, said Dowrick, who likes to sit down with customers to go over their marketing strategies to give them a leg up. "Right early in the con- versation we like to learn more about the customers and help them," he said, adding that one common mistake new businesses make is leaving their branding and signage until it's too late. Signs can't be made overnight because of the la- bour involved to create a custom design and the need to attain permits, he noted. "When we come in and they're doing a restaurant or building, when we come in and put the sign on, it's that final bow that gets put on the project that makes everything look good and people get excited because it means they've made it - 'We're here, we're in busi- ness we're ready go,'" said Bezner. He doesn't see that ex- citement slowing down any time soon, thinking back to the time when his business encompassed a 1,300- square-foot building - now a Jiffy Lube up the street. The company will soon outgrow the 6,400-square- foot shop on Weber Street North and will need to move into something more befitting in the 15,000- square-foot range. "At some point it's going to have to happen," Bezner said. Visit westmountsign- s.com. SIGNS OF THE TIMES Westmount Signs & Printing owner and president, Tim Bezner (right), and director of sales and marketing, Simon Dowrick. Bill Jackson/Metroland BILL JACKSON bjackson@kitchenerpost.ca BUSINESS LOCAL BUSINESS BOOMING DUE TO ECONOMIC GROWTH, LONG-STANDING REPUTATION