Eyesores discussed in 'ugliest town'

An obsolete recall sign and that one about the ugliest town in the west came up as subjects of poor taste at last night’s Electric City meeting.

A woman asked if the city might be able to encourage a sign seeking a recall of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to be brought down now that he’s not running for re-election. She said she’d had company recently who commented on it.

“It’s just bad taste,” said the woman, who did not identify herself.

Mayor Diane Kohout said the city could contact the property owner to ask about it.

The woman also asked about the sign on the side of an old metal building seen when coming into town from the south that says Electric City is “the ugliest town in the west.”

Kohout said the current property owner is not who painted the sign and he lives out of the state. The city has tried to talk to the owner about the property but gets no interest from him, she said.

“We even have volunteers who would be happy to paint it, but he’s refused that too,” City Clerk Peggy Nevsimal said.

Kohout said the sign had been covered up, but “whatever they used to cover it is now faded away.”

“People that have visited, they always say something about that,” the woman said. “And when you’re coming in, as a new person, from that end of town, it just doesn’t look good.”

The ugly town sign has been on the building for a long time. It was painted in 2006 by a former city attorney who had been feuding with city hall over his alleged violation of a city nuisance ordinance. The phrase painted on the side of the building was one he wrote in a letter to the mayor and code compliance officer protesting a violation triggered by vehicles and parts in his yard that drew complaints.

He also used to pay his utility bills in pennies. The sign was one more form of protest, one that just keeps on protesting, apparently.