Council Recall Sign Ordered Taken Down : Zoning: Despite a 16-square-foot limit, Peggy Ortiz says her much larger political statement will remain in place.

A member of a citizens group campaigning to recall all five City Council members has been threatened with prosecution for placing a large sign proclaiming “Recall the City Council” on the back of her house, which overlooks Covina’s Metrolink station.

Peggy Ortiz said she received a letter on Dec. 7 from the city Planning Department notifying her that there had been complaints about the sign. It directed her to remove it or face prosecution under an ordinance limiting the size of political banners to 16 square feet and the period during which they can be displayed to 60 days. The handmade sign, which measures 11 by 4 feet, has been displayed from Ortiz’s balcony on and off since Oct. 16.

Ortiz is a member of the Stop the Utility Tax Committee, which is mounting a recall drive in response to the council’s approval of a 6% utility tax.

Committee leaders say they have collected 3,742 of 3,932 signatures necessary to qualify an April recall vote against Mayor Henry Morgan and slightly less for the other four members. The signatures of 20% of the city’s 19,698 registered voters must be submitted in January to get the measure on the ballot.

Ortiz said she told the city she will not remove the sign until the city sends another warning, which includes a compliance time period and the ordinance. She could face a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for failing to comply.

“This is a blatant political act,” Ortiz said. “This wouldn’t be happening if the sign read, ‘Support the City Council.’ ” She said the ordinance has been applied selectively and that violations by Metrolink in the November elections and by City Council candidates in April were overlooked, she said.

“My city wouldn’t help us when our streets were filled with cars the week of free (Metrolink), when a car alarm went off for five hours, or when all-night construction of the Metrolink station kept us all awake,” Ortiz said. “But it’s different when it comes to my sign.”

The current sign is the second to be attached to her second-floor balcony. The original, which was put up Oct. 16, was damaged by rain.

Council Member John C. King said, “If this had been political, we would have made a stink about it on the very first day it went up, the day the Metrolink station opened. It’s been up there at least eight weeks.”

Council Member Robert Biancardi, who has seen the sign, said the city was only enforcing the law, and he does not really see the point of the sign.

“If she does not take the sign down, we will prosecute her,” said Hal Ledford, city planner. “We would prefer her to replace it with a 16-square-foot sign. We’re not trying to step on her First Amendment rights.”

Ledford said, however, that he would send Ortiz the extra information she requested before pressing a case against her.

However, Bob Low, a former council member, said, “Candidates routinely hire companies to put up signs on vacant property and place signs within five feet of property lines, breaking the code.” Low maintains “it’s not a political sign, because there is no election yet.”

Ledford, who said he saw the recall sign the first day it appeared, said the city took action after its clerk’s office received an anonymous complaint on Nov. 30 from a citizen whom the staff did not recognize. He denied any council member or employees made a complaint. “With issues which aren’t a matter of health and safety, we typically respond to people’s complaints. We don’t go after individuals,” Ledford said.

City officials say the utility tax, which went into effect Nov. 1 and will expire in a year, costs an average household or business $12.60 a month, with exceptions for low-income families.

The recall effort began Aug. 20 after the council’s preliminary approval of a 9.5% utility tax. In response to protests, the council cut the tax to 6% before its final adoption in October.

Covina City Clerk Joey Southall said recall proponents have until Jan. 15 to obtain the signatures, which will be checked by the county. If the measure qualifies, a yes or no election on whether a council member remains in office must be held within 88 to 125 days. A simple majority is needed to remove a council member.

Some City Council members are playing down the chances of losing their position, and they have attacked recall proponents’ methods.

“The people signing the petition aren’t educated voters. They can’t get these people out to vote,” Biancardi said. “With 20,000 voters, it is easy to get 4,000 people with a gripe.”

He said that, unlike the other council members, he favors a referendum on the tax. “They (the recall group) simply can’t be telling the truth about my position to people signing” the petitions, he said.

Council members, with the exception of Biancardi, say the utility tax is necessary to make up a $2.3-million budget deficit. The alternative, they say, is to endanger public safety through cutbacks in fire and police services, which account for 75% of city’s nearly $17-million general budget. The city cut 33 positions from its staff last year and reduced library and City Hall operation hours.