On May 6 Mayor Ballengee directed the Planning Commission to review the Town Manager's interpretation of the sign ordinance with regard to a specific permit application. The Mayor's intent was to solve the problem at hand.
On May 19 the Planning Commission reviewed the interpretation and voted to recommend approval by Town Council of that specific sign permit application. The Planning Commission's intent was to solve the problem at hand.
Quick, Call a Lawyer
Once again, on May 20, the matter of the denied sign permit was before Town Council and was next up on the agenda. But wait!
The Town's Attorney was called upon (at whose prompting we must wonder) to point out that none of this "intent" mattered. Any interpretation or re-interpretation by Town Council of the sign ordinance had to be referred by the Town Manager, to the Town Council. The Town Manager clearly has control.
But, rather than controlling a legal end-run around the intentions of Council and of the Planning Commission, Town Manager Terpenny was gracious enough - if that's what Council wanted - to refer the matter to them for interpretation.
Thank you Mr. Terpenny, for getting out of your own way and allowing the Town to solve the problem at hand. While pointing out that they don't want to add "sign permit review" interpretation of all sign applications to their job descriptions, the Town Council voted unanimously to approve the sign permit.