(A) It shall be unlawful for any person to post a handbill or political campaign sign on or over any property or right-of- way owned or controlled by the city except: temporary signs may be placed in the right-of-way on residential property when placed by or with the permission of, the owner or occupant; and handbills may be placed on city-owned or controlled bulletin boards which are made available for public use and when the handbills are placed and maintained in accordance with any rules or regulations adopted pertaining to those bulletin boards.
(1) For purposes of this section, a “handbill” means and includes any bill, poster, placard, handbill, flyer, painting, sign or other similar object in any form whatsoever which contains printed or written matter in words, symbols or pictures, or in any combination thereof.
(2) Further, “political campaign sign” means any sign urging the election or defeat of any candidate seeking any political office, or urging the passage or defeat of any ballot measure, but does not mean or include any billboard owned or maintained by a commercial firm or advertising company.
(B) The Director of Planning and Development Services and his or her designees are hereby authorized to remove any handbills or political campaign signs found posted within the corporate limits when the sign is in violation of the provisions of this section. The Director of Planning and Development Services is further authorized to enlist the aid or assistance of any other department of the city to the end that all such signs shall be expeditiously removed from public property when posted in violation of this section. When the Director or his or her designee(s) finds that a political campaign sign has been posted in violation of this section, he or she shall attempt to contact the candidate, committee or person responsible for the posting of such sign. If successful, he or she shall give 24 hours’ advance telephone notice of his or her intention to remove the sign, indicate the nature of the violation and the location of the sign. If, after such notification, the illegal sign or signs remain in violation, the Director or his or her designees shall remove the sign and dispose of it.
(C) In a campaign for political office, the candidate for the office shall be deemed the person responsible for the posting of political campaign signs, unless the candidate first notifies the City Clerk and the Director of Planning and Development Services of another person who shall be responsible. In such case, the candidate shall provide the name, address, telephone number and signed consent of the other responsible person.
(D) For purposes of this section, the business owner or sponsoring organization, or the responsible party, shall be liable for the unlawful posting of handbills, regardless of whether that business owner, sponsoring organization or responsible party or parties actually posted the material. The Director of Planning and Development Services or his or her designee may issue a civil citation to one or more of: the person(s) posting the material; the business owner(s) or sponsoring organization(s); the responsible party or parties.
(E) Civil penalties. A violation of any of the provisions of this section shall subject the violator to a civil penalty by way of a civil ticket in the amount of $100 per day, per occurrence, plus the cost of removal. The cost of removal shall be a $50 administrative fee, plus all actual labor and machine costs.
(1) Appeals; payment of civil penalty. Unless appealed in accordance with Part II, Title 1, Chapter 1, Section 20 of the City Code, a civil penalty assessed for a violation of any provision of this section must be paid to and received by the revenue division of the city's Financial Services Department within five business days from the date of issuance.
(2) Methods of recovery of unpaid civil penalty. Unless appealed in accordance with the appeal provisions of this chapter, if full payment for an assessed civil penalty is not timely received by the revenue division of the city's Financial Services Department, the city may recover the unpaid civil penalty by any or all of the following methods:
(a) A civil action in the nature of a debt.
(b) The use of a collections agency and the assessment of an administrative fee.
(c) The use of the provisions of Chapter 105A (The Setoff Debt Collection Act) and G.S. 18C-134.
(d) Equitable remedies issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.
(e) Any other method authorized by law to secure, collect, satisfy, or otherwise recover any civil penalty owed.
Any of these remedies are in addition to the authority contained in subsection (B) to remove the unlawfully posted handbills or signs.
(3) Separate offenses. Each violation of this section and each day that a violation continues is considered a separate offense.
(Ord. No. 1292, §§ 1, 2, passed 7-14-1983; Ord. No. 2595, §§ 1, 2, passed 2-11-1993; Ord. No. 00-110, § 1, passed 8-10-2000; Ord. No. 06-75, § 1, passed 8-10-2006; Ord. 19-045, § 1, passed 9- 12-2019; Ord. No. 23-049, § 3, passed 6-8-2023)