A full-court press is under way to keep the popular “Welcome to Whidbey Island” sign from being lugged up the road.

Two public meetings will be held next week in Clinton to try to force an alternative solution, but time is short.

“Moving that sign is a ridiculous idea,” said Ed Jenkins, “and people are furious at being left out of the process.”

Jenkins and others in Clinton have formed the Save Our Sign Coalition to prevent the 18-year-old carved landmark from being replaced by a new metal sign marking the island’s scenic route.

The coalition is made up of community members, artists who worked on the original sign and others dedicated to the sign’s preservation.

They’ve collected more then 1,500 signatures on a petition protesting the relocation, Jenkins said.

And they’re prepared to go to court to seek an injunction against the move, or at least a temporary stay, he added.

“Hopefully, we can settle the whole thing peacefully,” Jenkins said Thursday.

Public meetings have been scheduled in Clinton next week to try to reach a consensus.

“But it may be too late,” Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson warned.

Jenkins’ group will conduct a public meeting on Monday, Oct. 5, and Price Johnson will conduct one on Thursday, Oct. 8. Both meetings will be at 7 p.m. at the Clinton Community Hall, 6411 Central Ave.

Price Johnson’s meeting was originally scheduled earlier, but was moved back so more people could attend.

Price Johnson, who represents South Whidbey on the county board of commissioners but was not a member when the sign process began, said Thursday she will not attend Monday’s meeting.

But she will provide information sheets with a basic outline about why it’s difficult, if not impossible, to change horses regarding the sign.

The county wants to move the carved sign, currently across from the Clinton ferry dock, to a newly prepared base at Highway 525 and Campbell Road.

In its place would be installed a new scenic-route “monument” that also would say “Welcome to Clinton.”

“It’s a win-win,” Price Johnson said. “Clinton gets a sign with its name on it, and our beautiful island is showcased.”

The process began in 2007 with a federal grant to create signs the length of Whidbey Island designating Highway 525 and Highway 20 as a scenic route.

During the past 10 months, public hearings were advertised and conducted, permits obtained, contracts signed and materials purchased, Price Johnson said.

She said that to change the plan now would cost the county time and money it can’t afford.

Jenkins said that although the process has been flawed from the start, finding an acceptable solution “is doable.” He said community groups might even combine to reimburse the county for expenses incurred.

Jenkins said the new metal sign should be placed at the Campbell Road location, or better yet, at Clinton Beach park across the road from the carved sign.

In that spot, he said, both signs could be viewed and appreciated.

“That’s the slowest anybody will be going on the entire highway,” he said.

Although local artists who helped create the carved sign have said it may be too fragile to move, Price Johnson said a number of people with expertise are working to make certain the transfer can be completed without damage.

The ornate 10-by-20-foot sign features a log cedar oval with carved eagles, porpoises, otters and other creatures, and a ferry. It was created in 1991.

Relocation of the sign was originally slated to be early this month, but Price Johnson said nothing will be done until after next week’s meetings.

In fact, construction of the new sign was delayed for about three weeks for lack of steel, Mike Morton, county transportation planner, said Thursday. The contract calls for steel that is made in the United States, he said, and it was only recently that the right stuff was located.

Jenkins said community confusion surrounding the signs may have been the result of the official process itself, with meeting notices printed in tiny-print newspaper legal ads using cumbersome words and phrases.

“Everyone knows government talks a language nobody understands,” he said. “It’s gobbledegook to most people. That needs to change.”

Price Johnson said she’s willing to listen.

But she urged everyone to combine their efforts to ensure that the carved sign is preserved and protected in its new location.

“That’s what we should focus on,” she said.