OLDS — The Town of Olds' council has given administrative staff until Sept. 8 to come up with some options to deal with signs on municipal property that are deemed inappropriate.
Council made that decision during its June 23 meeting. Coun. James Cummings brought the issue up.
Cummings said in recent months there seems to have been a growing number of signs posted on lamp posts, traffic light poles, utility boxes and “other pieces of municipal infrastructure” that contain inappropriate language and in some cases appear to be personal vendettas against certain people.
“While the motivation behind these signs vary, the impact is the same,” Cummings said. “They can distract drivers. They damage public infrastructure. They create visual clutter in our community spaces.”
Cummings said he’d like a bylaw or rule against such signs to also include “those of a political nature” such as anti-Hamas or anti-Israel signs.
“The town property shouldn't be picking aside on those types of disputes,” he said.
Cummings said the signs in question are all over the place, even in residential areas and the Cornerstone area.
“There are dozens and dozens of these out in the community right now. I've taken down about six. I know staff have taken down a number as well,” he said.
Cummings described the signs as “vulgar” and “slanderous.”
He said as the owner of a business in the Uptowne area, “having our community members or visitors to our area walking down the street and reading these signs, It's not a pleasant thing for our community, for our folks to see.”
Cummings said if town staff are taking down signs on municipal property that are deemed to be offensive, that takes them away from their other duties.
He said in at least one case there was actually an “altercation” with a person attempting to put a sign up, “so that's not all that good.”
Cummings provided council with photos of a couple of signs he was talking about. In at least one case, he redacted much of the wording because he said it was “identifying very specific people or groups and (making) slanderous comments, accusing certain people or groups of crimes.”
Cummings noted that other communities deal with signs like these via bylaws.
He suggested incorporating language about those signs in the town’s community standards bylaw, perhaps with the onus on the person who placed them to take them down on a cost-recovery basis.
Mayor Judy Dahl noted that some of these offending signs have been placed on light standards that belong to Fortis Alberta.
Chief administrative officer Brent Williams said it may be a bit of a “grey area” as to whether removing those signs is the responsibility of Fortis or the Town of Olds, but said ways around that problem could be found.
Coun. Wanda Blatz agreed the signs in question are “very offensive” but also noted that many entrepreneurs, including youth, place signs offering to do things like mow lawns or babysit and other people may place posters about lost pets. She didn’t want to see that kind of thing discouraged.
Cummings echoed that thought.
“Nobody wants to tear down the kid’s lemonade stand around the corner, or the whatever signs like that that are throughout the community,” he said.
Blatz said another problem is garage sale signs.
“I have seen where people have been jaywalking or parking or leaving car doors open to go look at garage sale signs,” she said. “How are we going to encompass all of these things?”
“You're right,” Williams said. “There's a lot of scenarios where we could go down the rabbit hole.”
He said it’s a matter of discretion.
“There's always going to be room to protest, based on our application of our own laws,” Williams said.
Coun. Heather Ryan wondered if the problem could be addressed under the ‘graffiti’ in the community standards bylaw.
Williams agreed the graffiti section might be expanded to deal with offensive signs.
Coun. Darren Wilson stressed the need for a simple solution, noting the concern about taking Town of Olds staff away from other duties.
Williams noted that municipal staff are conducting a review of bylaws during the summer and fall, so he suggested that staff be tasked with examining the issue and bringing back recommendations on how to deal with it.
