Dale Sumner, with the Tift County Board of Realtors, spoke to the City Council Monday afternoon during their workshop session about problems with signage.

“We have had a real hard time with signage,” Sumner told the council. He said the problem stemmed from where the realtors were allowed to place their “direction signs.” Sumner said if they placed the signs according to the ordinance, “The signs would be in the middle of someone’s yard.” He said “visibility” was a problem.

Sumner said the realtors had come up with a generic directional sign which would eliminate each realty company having a different directional sign.

Councilman Dave Hetzel asked Sumner to explain what he meant by directional signage.

“It has an arrow and tells them there is a listing down that street,” Sumner said.

Sumner told the council, “All our signs are getting picked up daily and we are getting citations.” Sumner said he was asking the city council for “some leniency.”

Sumner said that the signs were required to be behind the easement. He said they used to be placed by the stop signs but they cannot do that anymore. Sumner brought photographs of eight intersections where the signage either was posted or where it would have to be posted according to the ordinance.

Hetzel said he thought the staff needed to look at the signage ordinances and said he liked the idea of a generic sign because it would “reduce the clutter.”