Sparta’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen held a lengthy discussion about the city’s municipal code pertaining to political campaign signs during their Sept. 2 meeting.
The board reviewed and discussed Sparta Municipal Code Chapter 17, BILLBOARDS, and most specifically Section 14-1702(2)(b) which states that the following signs are not intended to be regulated by Chapter 17:
“Political Campaign Signs” provided such signs are not more than 4 square feet in area and installed with the express consent of the occupant of the premises or the owner of vacant property.
City administrator Brad Hennessee proposed to the board that the language of the code be changed to remove the size limitation as the city had not been enforcing the size restrictions for as long as anyone could find.
“We’ve always allowed bigger signs,” Mayor Jeff Young said, noting that typically used yard signs are close to being at, if not over, the size allowed under the current code. “A four-by-four sign is much bigger, and we’ve always allowed those.”
Young referred to city attorney Lynn Omohundro for a legal opinion on the matter, and she told the board there has been a lot of discussion about ordinances being unconstitutional. Omohundro said there is a seminar at the end of the month to discuss those developments.
Omohundro suggested revisiting the matter next month.
“It might be wise to see what they decide before we make changes,” she said.
Hennessee told the board that he and codes officer Mike O’Neal had planned to discuss the ordinance and what action needed to be taken before the year’s campaign season, but several candidates have already begun putting up signs much earlier than usual.
“A lot of other cities exempt campaign signs from their city ordinances,” he said.
Hennessee said Sparta seemed to be the only city in the area limiting the size of the campaign signs.
“My recommendation is to just simplify it – as long as they are on private property and they have consent of the owner, then that should clear up any questions that anybody has.”
Hennessee said it made sense to just let each property owner decide how large of a sign they would allow but said, when asked by alderman Jerry Lowery, that the only stipulation would be that they couldn’t be on any city rights-of-way. Hennessee also said if they found any signs that were causing sightline issues, they would be able to contact the property owner and let them know it was in a right-of-way and would need to be either moved or removed.
“If we aren’t going to enforce it, we need to take it out,” Lowery said.
Lowery stated that if the city is not enforcing one code, it could lead to possible legal issues when trying to enforce others.
“I just don’t think it’s good practice for us to say we aren’t going to enforce this, even though it’s there,” he said. “I think it opens us up to people saying we are picking and choosing.”
Omohundro said she was concerned about leaving it to property owners to determine size and erecting billboards and that the constitutional issues that were being discussed could determine whether billboards for political signs would be legal or not.
Lowery, however, made a motion that was seconded by alderman Robert Officer to make the change to remove the size limitation effective immediately, and, if needed, after the city attorney returned from her meetings, make another adjustment next month. The motion was unanimously approved by the board.
During the Sept. 2 meeting, the board also approved John Meadows as the municipal court judge, replacing Gary Dodson, who recently passed away.
“I just wanted to thank the board of mayor and alderman for having confidence in me,” Meadows said after the appointment. “I appreciate the opportunity to serve the citizens of Sparta, and I hope to a good job for you.”
Another topic of discussion, which led to unanimous board approval, was authorizing the mayor to sign a Retainer Agreement with Branstetter, Stanch, & Jennings, PLLC to represent the city in opioid-related lawsuit(s).
“You’ve heard the cities and counties are suing Big Pharma over the opioid addiction crisis that has caused a lot of death and addiction in our communities,” Omohundro said as she explained the action to the board
Omohundro said, initially, the city hadn’t pursued action, but recently she had been contacted by an attorney about a settlement in Tennessee.
“They had just gotten a 35-million-dollar award for nine counties up in East Tennessee,” she said.
Omohundro went on to explain that the retainer agreement being offered meant the litigation would come at no cost to the city, and the contingency fee being suggested indicated to her they felt confident the city would receive some type of award for damages.
“They’ve done a lot of research,” Omohundro said. “It’s kind of a no-lose situation for us, and we might have some money to put back into the community to help out with the crisis.”
The board also approved the following motions during the meeting:
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sissytoo
So, let's do away with a law that no one enforces anyway? Why not being enforced??? Kind of like the law against pickups bowing garbage out of the bed of the truck. That's not enforced either.
Sunday, September 12, 2021 Report this