If you’re a candidate in the upcoming election to fill the Ward 3 position on the Selma City Council and you’ve noticed recently that a number of your campaign signs are missing, don’t blame your opponents, rather check with the city’s code enforcement office.

Friday, officers with the office were seen patrolling portions of Ward 3 removing campaign signs — and any other signs for that matter — that violated city ordinances.

“It really is a job that is never finished,” code enforcement manager Darryl Moore said. “In some cases, we will spend the day picking up signs along an area only to have more put back out that evening.”

According to city code, signs cannot be placed on any city right-of-way or placed on any street sign or electrical or telephone poles.

“What is sometimes confusing is that other cities allow different things, but here, the council didn’t like certain things so they wrote the ordinance a specific way,” Moore said.

The ordinance is not just for those signs promoting a candidate, but any sign, whether it is promoting a church event, yard sale or house for sale sign.

“It’s any sign. It doesn’t matter what it’s promoting,” Moore said.

Moore did say his office does try to warn those groups who they find are violating the ordinance before issuing any citations.

If a citation is issued, the group or individual can face a fine up to $50 in municipal court.

To avoid any question of whether a sign is on a right-of-way or not, Moore said signs are best placed in someone’s yard, not between a sidewalk and the street.

If a group or campaign wants to reclaim any picked up sign, Moore said they can contact the his office during normal business hours.