The East Ridge City Council adopted a new political sign ordinance Thursday night during it’s regular meeting. But, one element of the measure still must be addressed before the November 8 Municipal Election.
In a 3-2 vote, the council approved regulations on the placement and timing of political signs. However, the most divisive element of the measure _ a lottery deciding the placement of campaign tents on the lawn of City Hall on election day _ was put off to another day.
Mayor Brent Lambert said he was a member of the council in 2009 when the current political sign ordinance was adopted. He said the provision to keep signs five feet off the street mainly pertained to Ringgold Road.
“Signs were wedged up and down Ringgold Road,” Mayor Lambert said. “(The ordinance) was a way of reducing clutter. It was unsightly.”
The council came to a consensus that it would be confusing to adopt a new sign ordinance after the Hamilton County Election Commission handed out information about sign placement to candidates when they qualified to run.
City Attorney Hal North noted that many candidates are abiding by the regulations they were given and that he would hate to enforce the new regulations the council adopted on Thursday. He offered up a legal term “ex post facto,” (Latin for after the fact) to describe the action, then put it into laymen’s terms. “The horse is out of the barn.”
Councilman Denny Manning _ who ultimately voted against the new ordinance with Councilman Jacky Cagle _ was dead set against the idea of a lottery. He made a motion to strip the measure of the lottery provision, which died for lack of a second.
Mayor Lambert emphasized to the council that the provision to have a lottery could remain in the ordinance as written because it merely states “the rules and regulations of such lottery are to be determined and approved by the City Council.”
“We have between now and election day to determine what the lottery rules are,” Lambert said.
The council then turned to a second reading on a no-less-contentious measure, the towing ordinance.
After some discussion, the council unanimously passed an ordinance that would comply with high court legal decisions requiring that municipalities’ rules pertaining to towing should center on safety concerns, not limit competition among wrecker businesses.
The new ordinance would allow any wrecker service in the city, which is in good standing and has had a business location in the city for three years, to be eligible for the ERPD’s wrecker rotation. The previous ordinance limited the number of wreckers services on the rotation to no more than three.
Attorney North reminded the council that whatever action they took the city should be prepared to defend its actions as being in the interest of public safety. He said that the ordinance would be “less constitutionally suspect” if the council removed the provision that the business be in operation within East Ridge for three years.
Mayor Lambert responded by saying that he was “comfortable” with the provision and truly believed it could pass muster under the aegis of public safety.
The council passed on first reading an ordinance that would prohibit most major construction from occurring on holidays and limit the hours in which earth moving and such could be done.
The council approved a bid from Lee Smith for the purchase of a new side-loading sanitation truck for $173,000. The purchase, City Manager Scott Miller said, was included in this year’s budget.
The council gave its blessing for the construction of a new cell tower on Bennett Road on property where East Ridge High School is located.
