TAVARES, Fla. — Some say it's free advertisement, others call it highway litter: "snipe signs," as they're called, popping up across Florida.

• City of Tavares wants to clean up roadways of "snipe signs"
• Police will call number listed on snipe sign to issue warning
• Repeat violators who ignore verbal warnings will be fined

The street advertisements known as "snipe signs" can be found littering many major roadways, and officials in Tavares are moving to crack down.

The city has won several beautification awards, and officials don't want the signs ruining that.

Tavares spokesman Mark O'Keefe said the city’s Code Enforcement officers remove the signs, only to see them go right back up again. At a meeting recently, City Administrator John Drury and City Council members discussed the issue with police officials and decided to step up enforcement by citing chronic offenders.

"Snipe signs scattered throughout your whole community are not very attractive, and so we’re looking at bringing the enforcement up to the next level to curtail the number of snipe signs that are rampant throughout Tavares," Drury said then.

So now they are having police issue $100 fines to repeat offenders.

"The citizens of Tavares and the public administration have noticed an ever increasing litter problem created by these items called snipe signs," O'Keefe said.

Antwan Brown, who owns a lawn care business, has seen his share of roadside debris, including plenty of snipe signs.

"Sometimes the paper comes off of them, and then you're stuck with the metal piece in the ground or (they) wind up laying down on the ground. Then when you're not paying attention, trying to get the job done real fast, the metal part ends up shooting out into traffic and now you got a problem," Brown said.

The city said it's going to work the violation in slowly, waiting 30 days to let people get used to the program, followed by verbal warnings and phone calls, and then finally $100 fines to chronic violators.

"There is going to be a public awareness to this through social media and through education about what’s allowed, what’s not," O'Keefe said.

"We're not going after the kid who's having a lemonade stand, or Mom and Pop having a yard sale. That's not the focus of this initiative," he said. "This initiative is going after the true trash that many of us are familiar with as we drive the highways and byways of Central Florida."

Tavares Police will call the phone number listed on each snipe sign to issue a warning.