There's a new wrinkle in the quest to fix the broken time-and-temperature clocks on the Commons: according to the city's building commissioner, company logos on the clocks would constitute billboards and, under city law, are illegal.

If the city's Board of Public Works wants to have a business sponsor the $20,000 cost to fix the clocks, and have its logo placed on the clocks in exchange, it will have to get permission from the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Building Department has decided.

Tompkins Trust Company offered in late August to foot the bill to fix the clocks. The board put that offer on hold, deciding instead to send out letters asking any downtown business that wanted to sponsor the clocks to submit an application. The appeal was intended to solicit the highest possible contribution, and limited the amount of time a sponsor's logo appears on the clocks to two years.

The deadline for applications was Nov. 2 and the city got one response -- Tompkins Trust Company, offering $20,000 -- City Attorney Dan Hoffman said.

The board voted 5-1 Wednesday to accept the Trust Company's offer. Board member Jill Tripp voted against, saying, "I loathe the clock towers and I won't do anything to help maintain their existence."

Building Commissioner Phyllis Radke contacted Hoffman last week to say the logos on the clock towers constitute billboards because they're not attached to a building. That makes them illegal, requiring a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals, she said.

At a Wednesday evening meeting of the Board of Public Works, Hoffman and several board members told Radke they disagreed with her interpretation of the law.

Board member Cynthia Brock said the clock towers don't fit into the category Radke was using because they're not free-standing signs for the purpose of advertising -- they're existing signs that serve a variety of purposes, she said.

Board member Ray Schlather said he was concerned about how far the building department could take this, asking whether the same standard could apply to the placards sometimes attached to or near pieces of public art that indicate which private group donated the art.

"Is that a billboard?" he said. "Where do you draw the line?"

Schlather and Mayor Carolyn Peterson noted that Wal-Mart has a large, free-standing sign on Route 13.

Radke said that sign could be illegal, too.

"Everything that you're proposing is not part of how the sign ordinance was conceived," Radke said. "You can either appeal my decision or you can apply for a variance."

The issue is set to come before the Board of Zoning Appeals Dec. 1.