They send out messages all over town, now Rapid City's Mayor is sending a message to billboard companies.Mayor Alan Hanks is requesting a 120-day moratorium on the city's billboard permits. Hanks says companies have found a loophole in the city's sign ordinance.Right now, the city says for every new billboard a company puts up, it must take down two billboards.The mayor says companies are switching out static billboards with digital, where they can advertise multiple businesses violating what the mayor says is the spirit of the ordinance.

Mayor Hanks says, "Rapid City and the Black Hills, we host over 3-million visitors a year and we need to have the perception that we are a welcoming community and when you have a gantlet of billboards on I-90, that's the very first impression, I think that's sending the wrong message."

In Rapid City limits, there are 254 billboards.The mayor says that 120-day time period will help the city close the loophole.

Justin Pazera