BOONE, Iowa—The Boone City Council was asked Monday to have a political campaign mural removed from a downtown building overlooking the developing green space area at 8th and Story Streets. Representatives of the Boone County Democratic Party presented arguments saying they felt that the mural didn’t meet current city zoning and signage codes and the city should pursue those to have the mural removed. City Attorney Jim Robbins disagreed with their interpretation of the code and said he felt if the city pursued litigation they would be unsuccessful. It was suggested that there could be a lawsuit brought to force the city to enforce the groups interpretation of city code.
Tim Winter, Chairman for the Boone County Democrats, called the mural divisive for the community and detrimental to downtown Boone. He said he was disappointed in the councils partisan position on the matter which drew a very rapid response of denial by Council member Greg Piklapp. Piklapp says requests have been submitted to Federal Election Commission to clarify guidelines that need to be met for the display. As yet, he said there has been no response.
City Council member Eli Stines suggested a review of current codes and ordinances to try and avoid any similar incidents in the future.
The city’s position is that if the mural meets campaign guidelines, it would need to be removed within five days of the general election in November. The Monday night council meeting was the first meeting for the council since the Trump campaign mural was painted.
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