PORT ANGELES — Clallam County taxpayers shelled out $42,872 last year to replace stolen or vandalized road signs, including those used for target practice, county road officials say.
County Engineer Ross Tyler, who is tracking the costs, briefed two of the three county commissioners in a work session Monday.
Commissioner Steve Tharinger was absent from the county courthouse meeting Monday, instead being sworn in as a 24th District state representative in Olympia.
County Administrator Jim Jones said the cost of replacing the signs is “just an unacceptable amount of money,” especially in times of tight budgets.
“Collectively, if people realized that this is costing the taxpayers this kind of money for this seemingly thoughtless act, perhaps it would become something not so much to be proud of and be bragging about,” Jones said.
“But it would become something that would be looked down upon.”
County officials said road signs are being used for gun and rifle target practice and as decorations in homes.
Commissioner Mike Doherty said the cost is “probably the equivalent of more than a couple jobs” because of the materials and staff time.
Tyler said the road department will work with Code Compliance Officer Rich Sill and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office to combat the issue.
“This is just the road department cost. I have not captured what it costs the sheriff’s department to respond to this,” Tyler said.
Since 2002, the road department has spent close to $400,000 to replace stolen or vandalized signs, Tyler said.
That’s an average of nearly $50,000 per year.
“It’s fairly significant,” Tyler said.
Much of the vandalism comes in the form of bullet holes.
“Some of the shooting stuff is more on the West End, off in some of the less used roads,” Tyler said after the work session.
“As you get farther to the east, unless you go up some of the mountain roads, it’s more theft.”
Tyler said the road signs along Mary Clark Road in Beaver are particularly susceptible to vandalism.
Street signs for Kitchen-Dick and Hooker roads in the Carlsborg area are popular with thieves, he added.
“If it was $4,000 [per year], nobody would pay any mind to it,” Tyler said.
“But $43,000? That’s a project. That’s enough money to do something useful.”
Tyler said the county could sand “quite a few miles” of icy roads, for example, with the $43,000.
The cost included $17,484 for 881 hours of regular labor and two hours of overtime.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
