HUMBOLDT — After receiving a letter featuring complaints about the advertising displayed on the LED sign in front of the Uniplex, the city will be talking to the third party that runs the sign.
In his letter, Kenton Possberg said he wanted to see more of the sign’s space be used for informative purposes and promoting local activities.
“Let's not forget that the sign was not only paid for by taxpayers of Humboldt, there were also donations given for this project as well,” he said. “If you were to watch what is being displayed on the sign right now, you would be hard pressed to get any real information on what the City has to offer.”
The sign is a private-public partnership. The physical structure was built with contributions from the City of Humboldt, Carlton Trail College and the Humboldt Collegiate Institute Alumni Foundation. The screens and the software to place messages on them came from Fabmar Communications, now a subsidiary of the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.
In return for that investment, Fabmar sells ads on the sign, with the other parties receiving shares of the revenue.
Possberg added his biggest concern was about negative political advertising on the sign.
“When you drive into a city and the first thing you see on an LED sign owned and operated civically that states negative political messaging, it does not leave you with a good first impression. And as a taxpaying citizen in the City of Humboldt, it also does not leave me with a good impression.”
Mike Ulriksen, Humboldt’s community services director, said he’s been talking to Fabmar to pinpoint the ads Possberg is referring to.
There is an ad on the sign, when the Journal checked on Aug. 28, from the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union aimed at local MLA Donna Harpauer.
The director also told council the city does have the power to veto ads it finds unacceptable.
Fabmar is on the tail end of a five year contract to operate the sign, with another five years being negotiated.
Rob Muench, Humboldt’s mayor, said he wants council to consider banning political ads on the sign.
“We've all seen about how political ads can often go astray. We’re looking at a federal election coming up here and municipal and provincial elections taking place next year,” he said.
The mayor said the city should be seen as neutral when it comes to partisan politics.
“It does reflect on the city, in my opinion, because the general public sees it as a City of Humboldt sign because it does have our logo on top and it’s at our facility.”
Muench said he also wanted to determine if the city was using the sign as much as it could be for community and informative purposes.
“In my opinion, we should be utilizing it and to the fullest potential because it's a good way to get news out to the community. Wouldn't we be using it?”
