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Orange County board approves RFP for digital billboards, requires free county PSA slots and sharper ad restrictions
Summary
Supervisors approved a request for proposals to place digital billboards on county flood-control property, with board members pressing staff to ensure free public-service announcement space and contract language to prohibit sensitive content and foreign-government advertising.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Oct. 28 to issue a request for proposals to develop digital billboards on Flood Control District property, with supervisors directing staff to strengthen RFP language to guarantee county public-service announcement (PSA) time and to allow advertising restrictions for sensitive content.
Public commenter Chris Norby told the board that digital signs can raise revenue and be used for emergency alerts. "Literally, they're about 7 or 8 flips per minute...they can be tied into the emergency alert system," Norby said in support of the RFP.
Supervisors asked staff and the chief real estate officer several questions about the RFP's permitted advertising and how PSA slots would be preserved. Vice Chair Katrina Foley pressed for language ensuring that county PSAs would be provided free of charge and asked whether the RFP should prohibit certain categories of advertising (she cited drug advertisements such as ketamine as a concern). The chief real estate officer and staff responded that the county controls use of county property, that the project is not a public forum, and that prohibitions and lease terms can be sharpened during negotiation and in site-specific license agreements.
Supervisor Nguyen raised concerns about potentially offensive foreign-government advertising in neighborhoods with large refugee communities and asked that bidders be made aware of sensitivity and that the county reserve specific PSA slots so they cannot be sold out by private advertisers.
Staff said revenue treatment would vary by property (for flood-control district property revenues will be shared between the flood control district and general fund as appropriate; airport properties would flow to enterprise funds), and staff agreed to: refine the RFP to call out the county’s expectation for free PSA capacity, include prohibitions or clarifications about advertising categories, and work with supervisors' offices ahead of issuing the final RFP.
The board moved and approved the item; supervisors said they would return later to approve option agreements and master ground leases that include more detailed content and emergency-alert provisions.
The RFP requires a four-fifths vote (as it involves Flood Control District property) and the board approved moving forward with negotiations and a return for final approvals.
