Founded in 1984: Municipal Signs Evolved from Selling Rollers

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – From routine traffic signs to custom signs warning people away from creeks following the East Palestine train derailment, Municipal Signs & Sales Inc. makes certain the message gets across.

Whether a township or a city, a developer, a hospital, a school or even a Christmas shopper looking for a unique gift, customers can expect quality work, readability and speed when they come to Municipal Signs in Columbiana. Its workmanship and customer service is 40 years in the making.

“We sell handcrafted signs all over,” says Jay Strohecker, president.

When a school wins a championship and wants to boast about it to drivers entering the town, Municipal Signs is who they call, he says.

“We can do full digital print. We can print reflective too, which is a niche in and of itself. We can print about anything you require. We don’t get into real artsy type stuff. Most of our signs we try to make legible, simple, I guess,” Strohecker says.

From the catalogue of federal and state approved road signs, the company can create any sign to specifications, including the reflective aluminum signs meant to catch the driver’s eyes at night, he says.

Strohecker and his sister, Jean Gernert, vice president and office manager, have carried on the tradition their father and mother, Harold and Joyce Strohecker, started 40 years ago.

Their father was a land surveyor. But when work started drying up in the area and the steel mills were shutting down, he decided it was time to do something else, says Gernert, who was the youngest in the family and in high school at the time.

Their mother bought a business in 1984 that sold asphalt patching rollers that were mounted on dump trucks. Their mother managed the office. Harold soon realized the same people buying the rollers also needed signs. A natural disaster the following year solidified the need for their work.

“Suddenly there was a big tornado that went through and my mom said that was when they learned how to make signs real fast,” Gernert says, referring to the outbreak that struck Newton Falls into Pennsylvania.

People needed signs to replace those torn away by the wind and warning signage to alert people of dangers created in the storm’s wake.

In the early days of the business, workers die cut vinyl letters in a few sizes and spaced them by hand for the signs.

Today the business uses computers and digital cutters, creating logos with large rolls of vinyl and screen printers that allow design flexibility.

The business operates with a staff of four, including the bookkeeping skills of Strohecker’s wife and another employee who has been there 37 years.

A couple of dogs keep everyone smiling and greet customers arriving at the business, 1219 McClosky Road.

The business also carries hand tools, safety vests, caution tape and brackets to hold up signs when crews are working along the roadway.

Additionally, a contractor can find the handicapped signs required for parking lots and municipalities can find replacement signs for when originals are damaged, fade or get stolen.

While many of the standard signs can be purchased by mail, Strohecker points out that unless a customer wants to order a lot of them, the shipping is cost prohibitive.

For the first 30 years, the business operated out of a small, often chilly garage that became crowded with the signs and equipment. In 2014, the company constructed a larger building next to the original.

Municipal Signs has added new products and became a distribution site for contractors needing a driveway sealer.

“Jay and I have our hands on everything,” Gernert says. “We know what comes in and we know what goes out and we feel confident in the product that we’re providing. … We’ve got a great staff. We’re all on the same page. We’re a well-oiled machine.”

Pictured at top: Jean Gernert says she and her brother carry on their parents’ tradition.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.