By Roy Wood, Special to the Times Chronicle

Local emergencies and non-profit community groups will take priority as the town of Osoyoos develops procedures for its recently acquired electronic sign board that sits atop the Sun Bowl Arena sign along Highway 97.

Town administration presented a draft digital signage policy manual to council at a recent meeting, hoping for input from councillors and the mayor.

A report from community services director Gerald Davis pointed out that the sign was purchased with Resort Municipality Initiative funding.

“The purpose of the sign is to improve communication within the community and assist local organizations to increase awareness for special events,” wrote Davis. “The ability to make announcements related to water restrictions or to assist the public during emergencies, makes this tool invaluable.”

As well, the director said, “The use of this sign will be instrumental, and a number of non-profit organizations in our community will benefit from the enhanced advertising capability of the sign.”

He told council that since there is only one such sign in place at this time, thoughts of accepting commercial advertising have not been entertained. 

The policy manual outlines several uses that the digital sign will not be permitted:

  • Fund-raising efforts not formally endorsed by the town;
  • Promotion of political, factional or religious viewpoints;
  • False or misleading messages;
  • Anything deemed discriminatory under the Canadian Human Rights Act;
  • Copyright material without written consent;
  • Positive messages about alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or drugs;
  • Messages encouraging gambling;
  • Violations of individual privacy;
  • Members-only events for organizations; or
  • Anything considered inappropriate by the town.

The policy includes a suggested list of priorities for access to the sign.

The top priority is emergency messages from the town, followed by other messages from the town and events and messages from community non-profit organizations.

Faced with several policy suggestions from council members, chief administrative officer Rod Risling pointed out that the administration would prefer fine tune the policy based on what is learned from experience over the coming months.

Mayor Sue McKortoff suggested that “events that involve the whole community should have priority, like the Cherry Festival … the people who get community grants should be considered as well.”

Councillor Jim King asked what would happen if two non-profits wanted to utilize the sign on the same day. To which Davis responded that the administration would have decide which was of more valuable to the community.

Risling pointed out that the sign can hold and rotate through significant numbers of messages. One problem is that the more messages that are run through at a time, the more often someone would have to drive by the site to see them all.

McKortoff also asked that something be included on the appropriate length for which ads appear on the sign and how long they are, “like five or 10 seconds or whatever.”

Risling thanked council for a “good discussion” and said the administration would try to incorporate some of the suggestions into the policy.

Procedures outlined in the draft policy specify that only requests from non-profit organization will be considered for use of the sign.

As well, no-profits must comply with the policy, show proof of being an active non-profit and ensure that the content complies with the town’s sign bylaw.

The policy concludes with a warning: “All applicants and their organizations’ members must work with the Town in a collaborative and respectful manner.

“Organizations and all their members that are approved to use the digital sign must conduct themselves in a positive manner that does not negatively impact the image of the Town of Osoyoos. Failure or non-compliance with accountability guidelines will impact the ability to utilize the digital sign in the future.”