The brightly colored signs shoved into the ground next to DeKalb County roads have a new enemy: all county workers.
Any county employee assigned a vehicle – including sanitation workers and animal control officers -- soon will be authorized to remove illegal signs and placards along roadsides countywide under a law approved Tuesday by the Board of County Commissioners.
“I’m seeing a whole lot of ‘We Buy Junk Cars” out there," said Commissioner Larry Johnson, who pushed for the law. “Removing these kinds of signs helps keep DeKalb beautiful.”
The county’s code enforcement division is charged with handling the nuisance signs, which also appear tacked to utility poles and slathered on buildings.
That office, though, is overwhelmed with keeping an eye on properties, officials say. DeKalb is among top three counties in the state for foreclosures, with more than 13,000 in its borders.
Empowering other county workers to yank out illicit signs will give those enforcement officers a hand in battling the problem. Johnson said he also plans a crackdown on violators, who faces civil fines when caught.
The county will spend the next few months training workers on how to spot illegal signs, such as the ones advertising ways to avoid foreclosure, versus proper ones such those for real estate.
County workers will be allowed to start removing signs in the fall.
“The truth is, these illegal signs are a lot like graffiti,” said Commissioner Jeff Rader. “The quicker you can get them down, the more you deny them any benefit of being up.”
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