BUENA PARK : City Admits Error in Sign Removal

City Council candidate Jerry Sigler won an admission of error from city officials after his political signs were taken down by a city employee.

City Manager Kevin O’Rourke admitted that his office “screwed up” when it attempted to enforce the city’s posting rules for political signs by having an employee remove the posters.

City law requires candidates to wait until 30 days before the election to put signs on public property, but it has no authority over signs on private property.

The worker who removed the posters failed to make that distinction, O’Rourke said. The employee--whose name was not released--then was told to put the signs back after O’Rourke realized the error but apparently did an unsatisfactory job.

Sigler confronted the council at Monday’s meeting and told members that each of his 200 signs were on private property.

He not only lost about 40 signs, but the replacement job was sloppy, he said. In one case, 11 signs were put on the same corner. “I don’t need 11 signs on one corner,” Sigler said, adding that the signs cost about $1,500.

Sigler, who brought a broken sign with him, demanded that the damaged ones be replaced. The blue-and-pink signs were put up two weeks early because the contractor he hired had scheduling problems, he said.

“Nothing I did was illegal, everything was aboveboard and I really think I got it stuck to me,” he said.

O’Rourke apologized and said his office has issued a new edict in wake of the brouhaha: “Thou shalt not touch a sign without going through code enforcement,” he said.