City cracking down on campaign signage
EL CENTRO — A local political candidate said he believes orders from the city to remove his election signs and the instances they have been removed without his knowledge represent selective enforcement, but the city said that’s not what’s happening.
Imperial Irrigation District candidate JB Hamby said only his signs are being targeted for enforcement for being on public property.
Although election signs were allowed on public property or right of ways prior to the March 3 primary election, the city said the rules have changed, resulting in several candidate signs being out of compliance.
Interestingly, members of the El Centro City Council, who were involved in passing the new ordinance, have signs promoting their re-election campaigns on public properties.
El Centro Community Development Director Norma Villicana said Hamby’s claim the city is selectively enforcing the sign ordinance in untrue.
“When we have a sign that is placed on public property we give a courtesy call and give them 24 hours (to remove them),” she said.
The problem is some candidates, when contacted by the city, say they will remove the signs but fail to do so in a timely fashion, creating the impression their signage is being given special consideration.
This is one of Hamby’s contentions, who admitted his signs, too, were in violation.
Villicana said no candidate is receiving special treatment, and the city will begin citing people if needed.
In an Aug. 28 letter to the candidates, Villicana told them that if the city determines there is a violation of the sign ordinance, the owners will be advised and given 24 hours to remove them or face a citation involving a fine of $100 per sign.
The signs then would be taken down by city staff, and the city will not be responsible for any damages to them during this process.
The ordinance reads that the signs cannot be placed on any property owned by any public agency. They cannot exceed 23
square feet in area and 8 feet in height. There may be no more than two signs per parcel.
Villicana said her staff was able to get in contact with everyone who was in violation of the ordinance, but not everyone complied.
Villicana said she is not aware of any signs that have
been removed by staff yet, but Hamby disputed that with photos of some of his signs in the bed of a city-owned pickup truck.
The code enforcement officer, she said, is working as fast as possible, but some locations might not be addressed right away.
“We are being equal and fair to everyone,” she said.
She reiterated that the city prefers the candidates take down the signs when told they are in violation, If not, the city will remove them. She added some signs have been bolted down and are harder to remove.