Rhonda Moore
It’s a sign of the times.
In the face of daily complaints about signs littering the town’s
right of ways, town council on Sept. 2 approved a staff request to
hire a part-time person whose job title could be described as “Sign
Pulling Specialist, Level I.”
The request came from the town’s department of development
services, which oversees the town’s sole code enforcement employee.
The code enforcement staff gets calls nearly every day about signs
in the right of ways, leaving little time to take care of other
duties said Kev Freeman, assistant director of development
services.
“We did an estimate of the number of manhours spent on the sign
code and we’re seeing that staff time is equal to one person
spending two weeks out of every month,” Freeman said. “That’s about
50 percent of the time for one code enforcement officer.”
The code enforcement officer is responsible to ensure residents are
meeting code requirements including weed abatement, snow removal,
trash removal and property maintenance issues, among other things.
Included in the town’s municipal code is an order prohibiting signs
in the town’s right of ways.
The code says the town can remove any sign left in a right of way
and store it for up to 30 days before disposal. Anyone in violation
of the code can be fined up to $300, according to the town’s
municipal code.
The challenge in issuing fines is identifying the “perp,” Freeman
said. Many political, special interest and event signs have no
identifying information. But even those signs that leave a trail,
finding the person responsible for erecting it is something else
altogether.
Whether the code enforcement officer is armed with an address off
of a “yard sale” sign or a phone number from a “for sale” sign, the
response to the knock on the door is always the same.
“Most people deny the sign is theirs,” he said. “A lot of signs
appear over the weekend and we don’t have staff resources to
continually monitor that.”
Freeman asked council to consider a number of solutions, including
the option to move enforcement of the sign code down the list of
priorities, increase enforcement of fines or hire part-time
help.
Council asked Freeman to look into the possibility of fitting a
part-time employee into the department’s budget, as long as that
employee devotes time to additional code enforcement duties.
“I like [that option] as long as that person spends time on any and
all code violations,” said Randy Reed, mayor. “About 98 percent of
open-house signs are reputable and are picked up in a reasonable
period of time. I’m referring to the other signs with little metal
wires. To me, that’s hinging on graffiti. It’s really an eyesore to
the town.”
For more information about the town’s municipal code, visit
www.crgov.com.
At a glance
— Town to hire part timer to remove signs
— Sign removal high on list of priorities
— No more signs, says town council
BREAKOUT:
What the code says
— “Any sign found in the right of way in violation of Section
19.04.042J of this Chapter may be removed immediately by the Town
and held for a period of thirty (30) days. Any such sign which
remains unclaimed after thirty (30) days may be disposed of or
destroyed by the Town at its discretion.”
— “Any person charged with a violation of this Chapter, upon
conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than
three hundred dollars ($300) or by imprisonment not to exceed
ninety (90) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”
Source: Town of Castle Rock Municipal Code