Published: September 02, 2008 09:31 am      

City council to take on signage issue

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The City Council will be once again striving to tackle the sticky issue of temporary signs such as rummage sale and political signage.

A first reading on an ordinance was held in April, but the issue — and the ordinance — was put on the back burner until now, when the council has presented another ordinance which is slated for first reading tonight.

According to the proposed ordinance, no signs can be posed or placed on a utility pole, fire hydrant, sidewalk, street, alley, public right-of-way, public structure or on city owned or publicly owned property without written consent of the city or public entity. No signs can be posed or placed on a residential lot without the consent of the owner or the person in lawful possession of the lot.

“Each lot shall be permitted one single or double-faced sign per sale, per candidate, per proposition, per event, per advertised message, or per sign subject,” the ordinance states. “No single sign face shall exceed 16 square feet. ... No single sign face shall exceed 32 square feet. The temporary signs described herein shall be in addition to the signage authorized by and subject to a permit ...”

If passed, the ordinance calls for temporary signs to be removed within 10 days after completion of the event for which the sign is used.

“As an example, each real estate sign or rummage sale sign shall be removed within 10 days after the completion of the sale and each political sign shall be removed within 10 days after the occurrence of the election,” the ordinance states.

If approved, the ordinance is slated to go into effect on Dec. 1.

The council will also be discussing an amendment to the administrative fee ordinance, which will affect the bill for vehicles towed as a result of being placed into law enforcement custody.

“When any vehicle cannot be removed by its operator or when any vehicle is required to be placed into the custody of law enforcement because of the arrest of the operator or other occupant of the vehicle or because of the violation of the Illinois Vehicle Code or violation of any other provision of local, state or federal law ... The owner of any motor vehicle removed by authorization of the Mt. Vernon Police Department shall be responsible for all towing (including storage) charges and the administrative fee imposed,” the amendment states.

The administrative fee outlined in the ordinance amendment is $100 and is to be imposed and collected before the vehicle can be released to its owner.

In other business the council will:

Review bid results for the Muni-West Building re-roofing project;

Hold a second reading on an ordinance to rezone property at 9405 E. Illinois Hwy. 15 from AG to B2 by Norm Grande;

Consider a resolution authorizing disposal agreement; and

Discuss a resolution approving the internal revenue code section for employer pick-up agreement between the city and the Mt. Vernon Firefighters Pension Plan.

The council will meet at 7 p.m. tonight at the Rolland W. Lewis Community Building at Veterans Park.