A street-level billboard promoting Mayor Ruth Carney's re-election campaign at 100 E. Grand Ave., which was in an apparent violation of city ordinance, was removed Tuesday afternoon after it was called into question by the newspaper.
Carney had the sign removed hours after she was contacted by The Sentinel-Record, according to City Attorney Brian Albright, who said he believes the Carneys hired someone to strip the sign from the billboard, which covered the entire wall of a building facing west on East Grand near the Valley Street intersection.
The city's planning and zoning ordinance pertaining to political signs states that they must be removed within 10 calendar days after the election to which they pertain. The date of the election was Nov. 4, 2014. The sign was still in place Tuesday morning.
The ordinance states that the term political sign "means and refers to any sign which supports any political candidate or issue."
Albright said Tuesday that the ordinance was adopted in 2002 and he has "come across some research on some case-by-case situations where time limits such as that have been challenged."
Carney said Tuesday that the billboard was rented from a man in Benton for the months of October and November, but she thought billboard owners just left whatever message was displayed after the rental period ended until someone else rented the space.
"It's a billboard we purchased to put up there and I think they just leave it until someone else rents it. We only rented it for two months. It belongs to some man in Benton who rents it out to people," she said.
"That doesn't work here," Albright said.
Even though the sign doesn't bear the word "elect," it still falls under the political sign category since the "Carneyformayor.com" wording on it was for election purposes. The site is still active, and one page states "I am running for re-election for the office of mayor of Hot Springs." People can also still apparently make donations to the election campaign through PayPal on the website.
After meeting with Carney, Albright told The Sentinel-Record, "It's not her sign. It's someone else's billboard, and they (the Carneys) have attempted to contact the guy. I think that as a city, we'll contact him. She didn't know the man's name offhand, but will get the information to the city.
"We need to get in touch with him to take it down, or if she wants to rent it again, she can, but without the campaign language on it," he said, noting that its wording makes it a political sign that falls under the guidelines of the city ordinance.
The city ordinance also states that "the candidate for whom a political sign is placed and the person who places a political sign are responsible for the placement and removal thereof according to the provisions of this section and, upon failure to do so, shall be subject to the penalties provided here."
"I don't recall ever prosecuting someone under this ordinance," Albright said.
Carney said her husband had attempted to contact the billboard owner a couple of times, but there was no response to their calls.
"We don't own the billboard, so I don't know how we'd be able to do anything to it. I've noticed others (billboards) that have been around forever that are ripped and torn and no one is renting them, so I don't know how that goes, but I'll find out," she said.
The ordinance also states that a copy of it would be provided to each candidate seeking election to a municipal office.
Local on 01/28/2015