BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – The Brunswick County Democratic Party (BCDP) on Oct. 7 claimed the county is violating the First Amendment rights of the county and property owners.
According to a party press release, the party has reached an agreement with local property owners to install wooden frames with election signs about 10 feet tall. The party said vandals spray-painted the sign and eventually stole it, then the sign was replaced with a camera and a “stop work” order was issued on the sign by the code administration department.
“Property owners and BCDP members visited the code management office to find out what regulations were being violated. Office staff were unable to create the sign, but the height of the sign was He said he “thought” there was a 6-foot limit and that signs larger than that would require a permit. “When asked why the height limit did not apply to thousands of other local signs, no explanation was provided,” the release states.
According to BCDP, the county charged the property owner $200 in permit fees and fines. The matter was escalated to Code Management Director Michael Slate, who said the decision to issue a “stop work” order was not political and that the department did not have enough resources to reach all violation signs. The party claims that he did so. BCDP said the order, which was only removed from the signs after the party’s attorney contacted the county, requires property owners to agree to remove placards and frames within 30 days after the election. It is said that there was.
In response, Brunswick County issued the following statement:
“First and foremost, it was never Brunswick County’s intention to suppress anyone’s free speech, especially speech related to political campaigning. We are working with the Brunswick County Democratic Party to address this Code Safety issue. We certainly acknowledge that our staff could have done better in addressing this matter.The County Administrator has been in contact with the Brunswick County Democratic Party to discuss how the remaining concerns can be addressed. I’m doing it.
“Our code administration staff believed this issue was resolved prior to the press release, and prior to issuing the press release this week, the county administrator had not received any complaints from BCDP. Management plans to investigate this matter internally to better understand how this situation unfolded and what can be done to prevent it from happening again in the future.”
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