Two men have been working hard in their spare time to clean up Hillsborough County.

'Blight Fighters' working to clean up snipe signs across Hillsborough

Bill Staley, Jim Reed spend weekends picking up illegal signs

They have collected over 52,000 signs since 2001

County officials say signs are a code violation

Neighbors, Bill Staley and Jim Reed, have been traveling across the county and removing old signs, or as Bill calls them, road side spam. They have been doing this since 2011 and have collected over 52,000 signs.

They two guys say they take pride in their community and plan to continue working hard to keep it nice.

“They’ve always been an irritant for me,” Staley said.

“We spend anywhere from 3-4 hours on a Saturday morning or Sunday morning out running the streets, so to speak,” Reed said.

Staley and Reed are the Blight Fighters – dedicating their weekend mornings for the last six years to picking up ‘snipe signs’ from all over Hillsborough County.

Bill Staley volunteers and picks up snipe signs across Hillsborough County. (Bay News 9 image)

Jim Reed volunteers and picks up snipe signs across Hillsborough County. (Bay News 9 image)

Snipe signs are usually small advertisement signs—cardboard with two metal legs—that are placed in the ground or on poles.

The signs are illegal and Hillsborough County’s Code Enforcement Director said they pose a big problem.

“The snipe sign is really the biggest code violation in the county. It really impacts the most people because everybody see them,” Ron Spiller, with the Hillsborough County Code Enforcement, said.

The signs can also pose a safety threat because they’re easily blown around during storms and can even cause flooding if they get stuck in a drain.

Hillsborough County Code Enforcement officers are on track to pick up over 70,000 of these signs this year alone, and they said they’re put out just as fast as they’re picked up – so help from guys like Staley and Reed is definitely appreciated.

“I think people need to give more support to the community. Funding is not where it used to be and departments like code enforcement and other departments within the county, they don’t have the staffing they used to, so the volunteers can be good support,” Staley said.

The snipe signs are considered litter and code enforcement said if you see them, you can pick them up and dispose of them. However, they warn you that the sign must be on public property and they say if you’re ever confronted by someone while picking up a snipe sign, to not engage—the confrontation isn’t worth it.