PITTSFIELD — A Pittsfield family was surprised Thursday afternoon to see a man in a car pull up in front of their Hartland Avenue home and begin taking pictures of a political sign that they had on their front lawn.

Even more surprising, said homeowner Maynard Ross, was when the man pulled the sign, which Ross had made himself, out of the ground and attempted to fit it into his car. His wife, Tonya, confronted the man, said Ross, who stated he was from the Department of Transportation and that he was removing the sign because it was too close to the road.

Ross said that Tonya kept the sign, he remeasured from the street, and he now has his “Havey for Sheriff” sign in a legal spot on his front lawn. Havey, Ross and State Rep. Patrick McGowan were all surprised to learn that a recent complaint about signs sent one of only four “sign investigators” that work for DOT scurrying to Pittsfield to remove any signs in the DOT right of way.

According to McGowan, if the signs are going to be removed in Pittsfield, they should be removed across the state. Campaigning with political signs is common and McGowan said that his are only in Pittsfield for the next two weeks. “We are rotating them,” he said from his Canaan campaign headquarters. “In two weeks they’ll be in Skowhegan and two weeks after that they’ll be in Newport.”

The removal of the signs was not politically motivated, said Bob Rooney, the DOT worker who received the complaint. Rooney said the Pittsfield man who complained did not identify himself but instead said that three candidates who have signs in Pittsfield were placing them in the DOT right of way and he requested that they be removed. Rooney said that he did not complain about similar signs in Detroit, Canaan and Skowhegan.

Victor Bilodeau is the state supervisor for right of way control in the DOT and he said that with only four sign inspectors statewide, usually they only respond when there is a specific complaint, as in Pittsfield. This is why signs can be seen across the state advertising everything from Puppies For Sale to garage sales to wedding receptions, that are not removed.

“It would be impossible to have a man on every corner,” said Bilodeau, “and that is why if they see a violation, they remove it. Sometimes this involves hundreds of signs.”

Ross said that the car that attempted to take his sign was already full of others, ranging from political signs to “field trial” advertisements.

Bilodeau said that political candidates are aware of the right of way rule and usually are very cooperative. “I also just received a list from the secretary of state,” he said, “of all successful candidates in the primaries. Within the next month, they will receive a form letter from us that tells of the proper signage procedure.”

Bilodeau said that for the landowner who may want to erect his own political or advertising signs, it may be difficult to determine exactly where the right of way falls. Although in Ross’ case the right of way measured 33 feet from the center line of Hartland Avenue, Bilodeau said that this distance varies from roadway to roadway. “A good rule of thumb,” he said, “is to use utility poles as a reference point. Stay well behind them.”

The single exception, he said, is that political candidates may place signs within the right of way six weeks prior to the election.