ROCKLAND, Maine — City officials say political signs plastered on a building it owns along Route 1 should not be there.
But that doesn’t mean they will be coming down any time soon.
There are a half dozen campaign signs posted on the former garage at 59 Camden St. supporting candidate Mark Holbrook of Brunswick who is seeking the Republican nomination on June 14 for the 1st Congressional District.
Holbrook and Ande Smith are vying for the nomination to face off against incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree in November.
The city acquired the building in April after the former owner failed to pay $270 in delinquent sewer fees. There had been a lien on the property for those fees since October 2014, and multiple notices had been sent to the owner and attempts made to reach him before the foreclosure on the property that is valued by the city at $206,600.
Rockland City Manager James Chaousis said the city did not place the signs on the building.
“They are not allowed, but removing them is also not high on our list of priorities,” Chaousis said Monday. “I would consider the signs as harmless defacement.”
He said that this city-acquired building is different than others that the city operates such as City Hall or the police station where political signs would not be allowed. He said the person who placed them on the garage may have thought that it was similar to a traffic median in which signs are allowed.
State law and Rockland’s ordinances allow political signs to be placed along a public right-of-way. In this case, however, the signs are not in a right-of-way but are on a city-owned building.
“I would rather err on the side of caution,” Chaousis said, not wanting the public to think the city is trying to curb political speech.
He said no one has complained to the city about the signs.