Volusia County is cutting political candidates a break on illegal campaign signs this election season.
County Manager Jim Dinneen said Friday that he told the county’s code-enforcement department this week to only remove signs “as a last resort” or if there is a safety issue.
Instead, Dinneen wants code-enforcement officers to contact the candidates and ask them to remove the offending signs. The move is not meant to give candidates a special advantage but to protect county employees from charges of political bias or favoritism, Dinneen said.
“I have a real phobia about our people even touching these signs,” Dinneen said. “I never want there to be any kind of image of our employees getting involved in the political process.”
Dinneen said if a county employee were removing a political sign, someone driving by could mistake what the employee was doing.
“If you are driving by, it may look like our person is putting the signs into the ground,” Dinneen said. “The person has a county uniform on and is driving a county truck. The main issue here is our employees are to be apolitical.”
Political signs are often removed if they are placed in the public right of way. Some candidates have complained that the signs are removed without warning and that they have a hard time getting them back.
After the election, “all bets are off,” Dinneen said, and code-enforcement officers will go back to removing the signs. Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall said candidates generally have 30 days to remove their signs after the election.
Dinneen also said that when the signs are removed, they will be taken to the county road and bridge building in New Smyrna Beach, where candidates can retrieve them.
Dinneen said he made the decision after he received two complaints about campaign signs. One call was from County Council member Jack Hayman, who had called to report a complaint from one of his constituents about a sign in the New Smyrna Beach area about the proposed annexation of the Silver Sands and Bethune Beach sections of Volusia County.
Steve Allison, who lives in Silver Sands and is opposing annexation, said he contacted Hayman recently to complain about a $45 anti-annexation banner that was removed. Allison said Hayman went to talk to Carol Kerrigan, the county’s code-enforcement manager.
“He requested that they get our banner back to us,” Allison said. “Jack stuck up for us.”
Hayman did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Dinneen’s announcement is welcome news to Mark Garrett, a candidate for the Volusia Soil and Water Conservation District. Garrett complained recently to the County Council that code-enforcement staff had removed his signs several times from his front yard.
“I’m glad to hear they are not going to be so proactive about it,” said Garrett, of the New Smyrna Beach area.
County Chairman Frank Bruno said he’s glad the county is going to be a little more lenient when it comes to removing campaign signs. When he was a candidate in 2004, he had several of his signs removed. He said Daytona Beach charged him $5 for every sign of his they removed.
“I think he is just trying to be sensitive to the situation,” Bruno said of Dinneen. “It’s not saying we are not following our policy; it’s just giving the candidate an opportunity to respond before we take any action. I think that is good, and I think it is the appropriate thing to do during the election.”
McFall also said that when she ran for supervisor of elections in 2004, she spent about $3,000 countywide on permit fees for her signs. The money served as a deposit, with cities deducting money for each illegal sign they removed.
“I might have gotten back $300 or $400,” McFall said.
Dinneen said there is a difference between illegal campaign signs and illegal signs for yard sales or businesses.
“One is all about the democratic process and has nothing to do with financial gain,” Dinneen said. “The political signs are only an issue for a very short period of time. If our inspector goes down the street and rips out a sign for ‘Joe’s Appliances,’ there is never an implication if someone drives by that the inspector is making a political statement.”
Dinneen also said political signs are generally more widespread and up for a shorter time than other signs, making them harder for code-enforcement employees to remove.
Bruno said he would like to see the same lenient approach applied to all signs, not just political ones.
“It shouldn’t just be for candidates,” Bruno said. “I think we can be a little easier as far as our code enforcement is concerned.”
