Changes to Columbia Falls’ sign code sparked discussion at the city council meeting Monday evening.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided this summer, in accordance with the First Amendment, that municipal sign codes need to be content neutral. Signs can’t be regulated by the text on the sign, but only by time, place or manner, the court ruled in a case out of Arizona.

Council member Dave Petersen questioned if the changes would make all signs equal.

The city will still make a size distinction between temporary and permanent signs, city planner Eric Mulcahy said. The size of political signs was increased to 20 square feet to match other temporary signs and other nearby cities.

Before the supreme court decision, the enforcement of sign size was already difficult because the county allows larger political signs, City Manager Nicosia said.

Another change is that political signs no longer have a limit to how long they can be up. It used to be they had to be taken down shortly after an election, but no more.

“It’s unreasonable,” Petersen said. He questioned why the city should allow an election sign to stay up indefinitely, long after the politician has stopped running.

“It’s best to err on the side of caution,” in this sort of situation when the supreme court has given a rare unanimous decision, said city attorney Justin Breck.

Mulcahy said signs still have to be well-maintained and not falling apart. And if a temporary sign has been up for one year, it’s no longer temporary and the owner will have to get a permanent sign permit, Nicosia said.

In other Council news:

• The city of Columbia Falls is in the process of signing its first agreement with Three Rivers EMS to provide ambulance services and back-up services by the Columbia Falls Fire Department. This is to prevent what happened in the past when a police officer had to drive an ambulance and another time there wasn’t any EMS personnel available to drive the third ambulance, Nicosia said.

• Breck and his law office were re-appointed as city attorney for another two-year term for $59,370 plus $300 per month for additional criminal duties and $333.33 per month for union labor duties.

• The developer of an industrial park off Railroad Street is paying $4,700 to BNSF Railway to be able to install a sewer main extension under the tracks. Installing the sewer is $155,000, Nicosisa said. The city is working with the developer to obtain the BNSF easement.

• A man who lives off of North Hilltop Road brought a complaint that a conditional use permit from 2006 had not been followed by his neighbor who owns a gun shop and promised to maintain the private dirt road to compensate for increased business traffic. However, the business didn’t have as much traffic as originally anticipated and the dust mitigation services wasn’t enforced, Nicosia said. Mulcahy said he would talk to the business owner to assess the use of the road.

• The construction company for Cedar Creek Lodge installed an electrical service line on city park property after the city denied the access several times, holding that the line had to stay on private property. City council discussed charging a fee for the use of city property or requiring the company to move the line.

• City council unanimously approved a new cluster zoning to allow property owners to create smaller lots in exchange for open space or agriculture easements.