Canton Will Not Enforce Sign Ordinance During Election Season

Photo credit: Patch file

Candidates for elected office will not have to worry about their political signs being removed from the right-of-way in the city of Canton.

That’s because the Canton City Council on Thursday voted to instruct City Manager Glen Cummins to direct Police Chief Robert Merchant to not remove political signs in violation of the city’s ordinances until the day after the Nov. 4 general election.

The motion, proposed by council member John Rust, was approved 3-1, with council member Sandy McGrew opposing. Council member Bill Grant was not present.

Canton recently updated its sign ordinance through the approval of its Unified Development Code, which prohibit signs in the right-of-way along city streets. That draft has not been posted to the city’s website.

Since the new code is not easily accessible to residents, Rust said the city should not enforce the new ordinance.

While he proposed the motion, Rust said spent the previous four years working on a committee to update the city’s UDC so “anybody that thinks I don’t want to see that enforced is absolutely wrong.”

“I wouldn’t have spent that time if I didn’t want it enforced,” he added. “However, I think you got a 600-page document that’s not posted on our website, and we’re trying to encourage people to run for office. And then you throw a 600-page book at them and say, ’find the code that applies to political signs’.”

The issue came to light during the council’s Oct. 2 meeting when council member Hooky Huffman proposed the city hold off on enforcing the ordinance because Ward 3 candidate James Busi was not told signs were prohibited in the right-of-way of roads.

Earlier this week, Busi told Patch he was not made aware of the city’s ordinance, but added he will do what he can to comply.

On Thursday when he spoke during the council’s public comment time slot, the candidate once again said he plans to abide by the law.

“If they are in the wrong location, it’s my fault and I take full responsibility,” he said.

However, Busi — who is up against fellow Ward 3 challenger Farris Yawn — said the city should find a remedy to the possibility that a candidate’s sign could be ”repositioned” into a prohibited location.

Cummins said he did not believe he should be in the position to tell Chief Merchant which laws to enforce and which ones to ignore. He added the agency often has to make “selective decisions” based on the priority of various offenses.

“Who does he take instructions from?” Rust asked Cummins, referring to Merchant.

Cummins replied the chief takes instructions from written laws and ordinances.

Cummins went on to say the city has set a precedent for delaying enforcement of new laws, such as the city’s decision to hold off on enforcing downtown parking restrictions due to the ongoing streetscapes construction project. While he was not in town to make that directive, the city manager said he “concurred” with the police department’s decision.

He also said he would support the police chief if he decided to hold off on enforcing the sign ordinance during the election season.

While Grant was not in attendance, he did voice disapproval at the idea of not enforcing the city’s ordinances.

“I suppose we should only enforce the things that will advance our personal agendas or those that will bolster the power of our best friends,” he said in his Facebook status update.