Two signature proposals. One mammoth, one relatively modest. Both delayed.

The biggie is city council's request to the province to allow Hamilton's transit agency to run the coming LRT system.

It's been two months since the ask; the province still hasn't answered; concerns are starting to emerge.

The smaller project is the huge illuminated "HAMILTON" sign slated for the front of City Hall.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger billed the sign as a Canada 150 gift to the city, but it now looks like the $300,000 present won't be arriving until after the birthday candles are extinguished.

First the LRT update.

Council asked the province back in August to let HSR and its Amalgamated Transit Union workers operate and maintain the $1 billion provincially-funded light rail system. .

Despite follow-ups with the Ministry of Transportation, Eisenberger says the city still hasn't received a response or even a sense of when it might arrive.

The mayor says he's starting to get "antsy" about the holdup and the impact it could have on the project's timelines.

A contract was expected to be signed with a private sector consortium around June 2018, with major construction getting underway in 2019.

The request for qualifications (RFQ) process to identify prospective bidders was concluded in April. The next stage in selecting a builder is sending out a request for proposals (RFP).

But the RFP can't go out until the province responds to the city's request. If the answer is a full or partial yes, that changes the parameters of the already completed RFQ, which probably means starting all over again, adding months to the timeline.

That's frustrating because, as Eisenberger notes, until the project gets to the RFP process, the community won't know what LRT operating cost will be.

"I'm anxious to keep the process moving," says Eisenberger.

The mayor says when he asks the province why it's taking so long, all he gets is "bureaucratic talk." He's being diplomatic. As someone who's asked the same question, I call it gobbledygook.

Coun. Sam Merulla, who originally predicted the province would respond quickly, shares Eisenberger's concern that the delay is knocking the legs out from under the timelines.

Like Eisenberger, Merulla doesn't care that the delay means a contract might not be signed before next year's provincial and municipal elections. Both figure LRT will be an election issue regardless of how far along the process is. For Merulla this is about the province being upfront with Hamilton and showing "leadership."

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"They need to move on it. If they reject it, we can just move forward. By delaying the answer, they're only compounding the problem."

Forward to the giant HAMILTON sign.

To refresh your memory, the sign will be an extravaganza of digitally-lit coloured letters measuring about 2.3 metres high and two metres deep, all strung across 23 metres of city hall forecourt.

Eisenberger says private sector donors have come through with the $300,000 so the construction and installation won't cost taxpayers a penny.

What they're finalizing now is the contract between the city and the manufacturer, Hamilton Scenic Specialty Inc. That and engineering work has slowed the project down considerably. Rather than being ready for Canada's 150th, Eisenberger expects it'll be completed by March and unveiled shortly after.

Delay notwithstanding, the mayor stands by the decision to bypass the city's usual public art process, which includes community consultation and competitive bids.

"I said earlier on that if we had got into the design competitive process it would take years. This is probably a lot quicker than it normally would have happened, but it's still taken a little longer than I expected."

At least the setback can't be blamed on dawdling. Not sure the same can be said for the province's LRT/HSR decision.

- DRESCHEL: Coun. Green pushes for new LRT deal for HSR

- Dreschel: Giant $300k city hall sign on way

- City's request for an HSR-run LRT in hands of province