Greensburg officials have removed two stop signs on a city street after they determined the markers should not have been there.
The signs on Culbertson Avenue were removed this month at the road's intersection with Grant Street, where two stop signs remain.
"Apparently, at some point, we have no idea when, somebody placed stop signs there without council approval," said Sue Trout, city administrator.
After receiving a complaint, Greensburg officials turned to the city ordinance for stop signs and found the Culbertson Avenue ones were not listed.
Police Chief Walter "Wally" Lyons reviewed whether the signs should remain.
Lyons, who recommended to city council that the signs be pulled, said he didn't know how they ended up on Culbertson.
"It's hard to say," he said. "For some reason, they never ended up in the ordinance book."
Lyons said police couldn't enforce traffic violations involving the signs if they were not listed in the city ordinance.
He said another factor in the decision to pull the signs was that there is no other area along Grant Street that has an intersection with four-way stops.
"We came to the decision there really wasn't a need for a four-way stop," Lyons said.
He guessed the signs were at the intersection for more than 10 years.
Karl Eisaman, who said the placement of the signs predated his 11 years as mayor, surmised that the signs were approved by council and then not added to the involved ordinance.
The removal of the signs did not elicit any grumbling, Lyons said.
"I haven't heard one complaint since they were removed," he said.
City officials also discovered that another stop sign wasn't in the ordinance book. That marker, at Kenneth Street's intersection with Wayne Street, was kept.
"We felt the stop sign was needed and we added it in the ordinance book," Lyons said.
