Agenda - Public Works Committee - 07/15/2008

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Case #3: Temporary Signs in the Public Right-of-Way Public Works Supervisor Reimer stated that because of the recent stonns and this being an election year, he wanted to review the current policy. He stated that the policy states that all signs will be placed 15 feet behind the curb or edge of the road, outside of the vision triangle. He stated that, last year, he was instructed to take down signs that didn't follow the policy and keep track of them. He stated that since last May, they have collected 773 signs with the two biggest contributors being contractors and real estate companies. He stated that after the recent stoml, there were probably 150 signs picked up. . He stated that they have given the policy infonnation to contractors and most were fairly cordial. He stated that one of the problems with the removal of signs is that once they were removed from front yards, contractors swooped in and asked to take a look at the homeowner's roofs again. He stated that many moved their signs after getting a call from the City. He stated that this infonnation will be posted on the website and the Police Department has asked them to be on their T. V. show to discuss the problem with signs and why they remove them. He stated that the biggest reason he is bringing this up is because this is an election year. He noted that the local people aren't too bad, but there have been problems with the national candidates. Councilmember Dehen asked if the City was seeing repetitive violators. Public Works Supervisor Reimer stated that after they have called them, they haven't seen too many problems. He stated that they are keeping track of them on a spread sheet that includes a lot of detail. Councilmember Dehen asked if the City could issue an Administrative ticket for repetitive violations. Public Works Director Olson stated that this was discussed last year and the problem is proving that it was actually "them" who placed the sign in the wrong spot. Chair Elvig stated that it was felt that losing their sign was part of the remedy. Public Works Director Olson stated that they have told the contractors that they can come in and pick up their signs if they would like. Public Works Supervisor Reimer stated that they did have one situation where a contractor came in to pick up his own signs, but took all the wire stands from the signs that did not belong to him. He stated that this does not require any action because he just wanted to update the Committee. He stated that he will keep track and let the Committee know if there are repetitive violators. Chair Elvig stated that there is a sign in the RTC that has a phone number listed that he isn't sure still works. Public Works Director Olson stated that staffis working on the trailer that is parked there also. Public Works Committee / June 17,2008 Page 9 of 11