The controversial sign on wheels that's been the topic of heated debate in Penhold for more than a year will soon disappear.
Last week town council passed first reading of a bylaw which, if approved, will limit the size and scope of signs on public and private property in town.
Mayor Dennis Cooper admits this bylaw has come about because of the infamous ever-changing sign on Ken McCarthy's property, visible to traffic on Highway 2A.
“The idea of temporary signs and what's on them has polarized our community,” said Cooper who added there have been letters and complaints to the town office regarding some of the messages that are displayed on McCarthy's board.
“We want to move forward with good guidelines. We want good publicity,” said Cooper.
If approved, the bylaw will require people apply for a permit of $35 to place a temporary sign on their property. The size will be restricted to four square metres and the message must pertain to the sale or lease of land or buildings, sale of goods or livestock by auction, carrying out construction and announcements of any local event of a religious, education, cultural, political or government nature.
Temporary signs can be placed outside for a maximum of seven days for a maximum of three times a year. A public hearing is set for 5:45 p.m. at council chambers on Oct. 15.
Council first agreed to look into creating this bylaw to end McCarthy's messages after he personally named two residents on his board last spring.
At that time, McCarthy told the Innisfail Province the message was in response to a Facebook message on the Penhold Happenings page that suggested he should leave town.
During that meeting Coun. Chad Hoffman was the only councillor opposed to looking into creating a bylaw. He voted against it again last week when it was brought to council for first reading.
“One guy in particular is causing issue in town so now there's a bylaw. There shouldn't be a bylaw for a one-off situation,” he said.
McCarthy said he's not surprised to hear about the creation of the bylaw.
“The same thing always happens. If they don't like something, they make a bylaw,” he said.
McCarthy first started rolling his sign to the edge of the highway in June, 2012 to shake up council and raise awareness about property taxes which he said were getting too high.
That first message promoted a public meeting at his property that drew more than 200 people and started a petition for a Municipal Affairs inspection. McCarthy was successful in getting the necessary 20 per cent of the town's population to sign on. The review, released last month included three directives and 83 recommendations.
And since nomination day Sept. 23 revealed that 11 people are running for council and three are running for mayor, McCarthy said he feels it's time to retire the sign.
“The sign has done its job,” he said.
“The last election everyone (councillors) was acclaimed and this has been going on for too long. I started the sign to get people involved. The sign has done its job.”
McCarthy was in High River last week helping with flood recovery but said when he gets back this week he will write one final message signing off.
