MISQUAH — The question of whether Birch Street and Second Avenue needs a fourth stop sign returned to public discussion Tuesday, continuing a civic conversation first recorded in the Pilot-Independent in 1957 and, by some accounts, begun before the paint on the third sign was dry.

The current intersection has three stop signs and one bare post. Drivers approaching from the unsigned direction nearly always stop anyway, which opponents of the fourth sign call evidence that the system works and supporters call evidence that the town is relying too heavily on habit.

Mayor Gloria Vik said the city will not rush the decision. “We have waited sixty-nine years,” she said. “Another month will not be the thing that ruins us.”

The county estimate places the cost of a new post, sign, and installation at $340, though Alderman Pete Hagen said the money is not the heart of the issue. “The issue is whether a sign solves a problem or merely completes a set,” Hagen said. Resident Al Bunde countered that incomplete sets have consequences, citing dinnerware, drill bits, and the Packers’ offensive line.

City Clerk Donna Skoglund produced accident records showing no reported collision at the corner in more than five decades. That did not end the debate. It did, however, cause several residents to begin sentences with “I’m not saying there has been an accident, but…”

The matter has been referred to a stop-sign subcommittee, which does not yet have all its members. The council expects to hear from Public Works, the county sign shop, nearby residents, and anyone with a memory of the 1957 discussion that does not rely entirely on what their father said at the time.

Until then, the corner remains as it is: three signs, one post, four directions, and a surprising amount of local identity.

The practical question now is what happens next. In a larger city, Town Debates Stop Sign, Continued From 1957 might be handled by a department, a consultant, and a memo no one reads twice. In Misquah, it will be handled by a few named people, a public meeting, and the expectation that anyone complaining will also help carry a table if asked.