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May 20, 2010

Campaign signs not a problem so far

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

For local political candidates and their supporters, there are two key rules to remember when putting up campaign signs: Don’t put them on public property or rights of way. And don’t put them on private property without the owner’s permission.

“If they are in the right of way, we’ll pick them up. We usually just try to move them out of the right of way most of the time,” said Dalton-Whitfield inspections administrator Greg Williams. “It’s not always clear where the right of way ends, but if the signs are at least 10 feet behind the curb, there normally won’t be any problem.”

Williams said inspectors will also remove any signs that cause any visibility problems for traffic.

Unlike some places, Dalton and Whitfield County and Murray County don’t require a bond for campaign signs. In those places, the bond is forfeited if the signs aren’t taken up in a timely manner.

Chatsworth zoning administrator Dolley Flood said political signs may not block the view of permanent signs in that city’s central business district.

And officials also note that state law forbids placing political signs on power poles or telephone poles.

Dalton Mayor David Pennington said that, so far, he’s not aware of any major problems this year with people putting up signs where they shouldn’t. But at some of the city’s major intersections, some signs have been put up in the right of way as well as on private property without the owner’s permission. Those signs have typically been removed by code enforcement or by property owners.

In fact, Pennington says city officials have received a few complaints about signs being stolen but it usually turns out those signs have been removed from public rights of way by code enforcement or removed by owners from private property where they were placed without permission.

“It hasn’t been a major problem so far, but we’ve only had one election. If it gets out of hand we are going to have to police it more heavily,” Pennington said.

Whitfield County Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Babb said when signs are placed in areas they shouldn’t be it’s usually not by any of the candidates but by their supporters.

“These signs are expensive. I know from my own experience, so you want to put them some place where they will stay. You don’t want the property owner to take it up or the state to take it up,” he said. “If a sign goes up in a bad place, it’s normally a supporter who doesn’t understand all the rules.”

Babb said he hasn’t heard any complaints yet about signs being placed improperly.

“It doesn’t seem like a big deal so far,” he said.

Officials in both Whitfield and Murray counties say the Georgia Department of Transportation is particularly diligent about removing signs on its rights of way.

“They take them up and throw it in the back of their truck, and you can kiss it goodbye,” Babb said.

Williams said in Dalton and Whitfield County signs must be removed after an election is over, but he says local ordinances do not specify exactly how much time after an election has passed that candidates have to remove their signs.

Murray County land use administrator Dick Barnes said he believes candidates have 14 days after an election to remove signs, but he said he wasn’t able to immediately find the relevant ordinance Wednesday afternoon.

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