Rules on campaign signs have the Pulaski County Election Board calling for changes to the county’s Unified Development Ordinance. Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to send a memorandum to various county officials, calling for the repeal of the section on “special signs.”
Board Chair Jon Frain said he didn’t see the need for campaign signs to be regulated at the county level. “The people we serve want to voice their opinions, and there’s already enough rules in place that you can’t put them on utility poles, you can’t put them along the highway. If you put one up, you have to say who paid for it or who sponsored it,” he said. “I mean, if I really like a candidate or I feel really strong about a platform, why can’t I put that in my yard for the year, or two years?”
Board member Laura Bailey worried that having rules at the county level could lessen people’s awareness of the state and federal laws. “To me, it’s almost going to lead to more confusion because people will say, ‘Well, I did. I followed this.’ Well, that’s fine, but the state and federal laws say you have to have it disclosed,” she said.
“We have a very large county and one person that would be responsible enforcing this, and I mean, we’re going to get all the complaints, too,” Frain added. “We’re going to get the complaint, ‘Well, up in Franklin Township, Christi has a sign,’ and we’re going to get bombarded with this, whether we’re responsible for it or not.”
While Pulaski County’s Unified Development Ordinance doesn’t specifically mention campaign signs, there is a section regulating “special signs.” However, a definition for the term “special signs” was apparently left out. Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer, who helped put the ordinance together, has proposed an update which would more clearly define the signs in question as “Election Campaign Signs.”
Still, Frain doesn’t see the need for that section. “I’ve just never known this to be an issue in our county,” he said. “I just don’t understand this at all.”
Any proposed adjustments to the Unified Development Ordinance would first go to the Pulaski County Advisory Plan Commission for consideration, and then the county commissioners. The election board decided to send its recommendations to the commissioners, county council, Origer, and the rest of the Community Development Commission. Board members also plan to discuss the issue with the various groups, during upcoming meetings.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to the section of the Pulaski County Unified Development Ordinance regarding “special signs” as a new addition to the ordinance, as part of a series of updates that took effect in January. Pulaski County Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer has since emailed WKVI News, explaining that the regulations were in place long before then. “In fact, the original 2011 zoning ordinance and the current unified development ordinance, as initially adopted in 2014 and effective 1 January 2015, have always had regulations in place pertaining to election campaign signs, regardless of the terminology employed,” Origer explains. “This is nothing new, even if this is the first time it has been brought to the CEB’s attention.”
