City soured on garage sale scofflaws

Disobeying city ordinances regarding garage sale signs could cost their owners way more than the profits of any sale.

Justin Windham, code enforcement officer, advises he'll be out and about looking for errant garage sale signs in coming weeks, now that the weather is warmer and the number of sales are multiplying like flies on a screen door in summer.

Of course, the code enforcement officer has better things to do than ride around town looking for sign violators, so he's hoping residents will just cooperate.

The city ordinance states garage sale signs (and other signs) cannot be placed in a public right-of-way, which Windham defines as the area between the street and telephone poles.

The signs can't be attached to other public signs such as stop signs and speed signs, and they can't be attached to public property such as telephone poles.

Garage sale signs may be placed on private property as long as the person putting out the sign has the permission of the property owner (or, obviously, happens to be the property owner).

Windham advises garage sale signs are not to be put out until two days before the sale and they absolutely must be removed from their perches within two days after the last day of the sale.

"The person having the garage sale, it's their responsibility to have their signs removed," Windham said.

Tuesday morning, the city's chief code enforcer said he picked up several signs that were actually one and two weeks old.

"Over time, if these signs are not picked up they begin t really clutter our rights-ofway," Windham said. "It gives a bad impression to visitors and citizens and makes the town look cluttered, so I ask everyone to help out and keep our city beautiful."

Violators can be ticketed and citations can cost up to $500 — per day, per sign — and that means every day after the two-day limit postsale may be counted as a violation.

Unlike some code violators, the offenders won't be difficult to locate — after all, their street addresses are clearly noted on their garage sale signs.

City officials are already talking about keeping Windham on duty a couple of Saturdays each month to crack down on the illegal signage.

Per city ordinance, nonprofit organizations must follow the same guidelines regarding sign placement.