Sometimes knowing the right laws can go a long way!

This guy shares how his city ordinance didn’t want him to put up an election banner and how he outsmarted them.

Check out the full story.

Political signs can only go up 30 days before any election? OK.

So back in August, my wife and I decided we wanted to put up a sign to promote our preferred candidate for the upcoming presidential election here in Texas.

I wanted to see what my town’s ordinances said about what and where we could put the sign up, as we were planning to put a banner on our fence that is very prominent facing traffic that goes along the side of our house, but that is at the edge of our property.

This is where it gets interesting…

The ordinances had a few rules about where the sign could and couldn’t be (e.g. don’t put them on a utility pole), the max size of the sign(36 sq feet), how high off the ground etc.

It also said that political signs would be allowed “30 days prior to any election”. Note here it didn’t say “the election” which would have implied that the election had to be related to the sign.

As far as I was concerned it could be, as the ordinance said in plain English “any election”.

So we ordered a 36 square foot banner off of Etsy, nailed and tied it to the fence on a Saturday in August.

He knew he was on point with this…

The next Monday code enforcement dropped by and said something along the lines “we had an inquiry about your sign, it isn’t in compliance with the ordinance” and asked us to take it down.

I wasn’t home at the time, my wife told him that I wasn’t home but that I had read the ordinance and it said “any election”, and that we were in compliance.

There was some back and forth.

They settled on if you request a sign permit that would give us a month with the sign up then we would be within 30 days of early voting in Texas which is how the town has traditionally interpreted the meaning of “30 days prior to any election”.

UH OH…

So I get home from running the errand I was on and my wife tells me what has transpired.

I still thought the sign was legal under the ordinance, but to make my wife happy I applied for and was granted the permit.

Two days later the same code enforcement officer came to our house and said that the town manager had overruled his issuing of the permit and that the sign needed to come down.

I told him that I only applied for the permit to make my wife happy and that the sign has always been legal under the ordinance and that the town was not without choices as it could clean up the language in the ordinance.

More back and forth.

That’s INSANE!

I asked him what the next steps were, you know… do you remove the sign(would have made great footage from my security camera)? Do you cite me? etc. etc.

He said he would talk to the town manager. I said that I would be happy to discuss it with the town manager.

So the town manager calls me later that day. Says things like “most people don’t put 36 square foot signs on residential property”.

I told him that I wasn’t most people.

I that I was following the letter of the ordinance and that the sign was up in accordance with “any election” including the fact that several of the 54 primaries are currently happening(50 states + territories + voters overseas), and that those are all “elections” for the purposes of the ordinance. He says that he would contact the town’s lawyer.

He wasn’t sure what went wrong!

Hours later he calls back. I guess the town’s lawyer was not busy that day and was able to opine instantly on the matter.

He says the town’s lawyer thinks the ordinance is enforceable but that they have decided to not take an enforcement action.

I told him I still believed I was in compliance, because I was following the “any election” provision, but that he was making the right choice, as there was a pandemic going on.

But I had also been doing some research. Many people think of Texas as very similar to the rest of the south where “local government is best”.

He knows how some laws work!

But my understanding of how things work in Texas is that cities and towns can not do things that the state doesn’t allow them to do. So things are often enumerated or restricted at the state level.

And it just so happens that Texas has a chapter on political signs.

Title 15 is “Regulating Political Funds and Campaigns” and Chapter 259 is “Political Signs”. 259.003 is Titled “Regulation of Political Signs by Municipality” and says in part “A municipal charter provision or ordinance that regulates signs may not, for a sign that contains primarily a political message and that is located on private real property with the consent of the property owner prohibit the sign from being placed;”.

He knew he had to do something about it!

It looks like there are some caveats elsewhere in the chapter such as it applies to signs 36 square feet and smaller etc. But definitely applies to my circumstances.

So the town’s ordinance restricts someone from placing a political sign 30 days before “any election”, it sure seems like that violates this section of Texas law.

Now armed with some information I went to town council, and spoke at one of the open forums, where residents can address the council on any topic.

My town is pretty small, full of people who don’t share my political views and the council reflects that pretty well. But I told them about how the ordinance appeared to violate Texas law.

He went all in with the rules!

I also told them about a recent supreme court ruling from 2015(Reed v. Town of Gilbert) that set a bit of a surprising precedent.

Basically under certain conditions the town might have to survive strict scrutiny when taking enforcement actions on signs and demonstrate a “narrowly tailored, compelling government interest” for why certain signs could only be up for short times vs other signs being up for longer times.

Anyway.

Finally the cherry on top!

The town has worked with me on this issue. And the town manager is a busy person. But did say that the town’s lawyer and him would circle up and propose changes to council in the coming months.

I hope this post inspires you to get out there and VOTE and also engage with your government at the local, state and national level!

WOW! That’s a lot of effort for a banner!

How come the council was unaware of the rules?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user knows what matters!

This user knows what this person can do instead!

This user loves how this guy handled the situation!

This user thinks it is great that this guy knew the laws!

This user shares laws from the UK!

Someone’s being really smart here!

And a good thing, too.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.