VIDEO: Clement and Young Grateful to Be Back to Work Outside Little Caesar's

Even on a crisp, 30-degree Monday, Nengi Clement's enthusiasm for his job as an outdoor promoter for the Little Caesar's franchise in Eagan is infectious.

"This job's been really good to me. I like it in the wintertime when people give me hot cocoa and say 'Hi' to me and they wave at me in cars, it's a really fun job," said Clement.

Clement and his compatriot, Christian Young, say they're both grateful to be back to work waving at passing vehicles after a dustup between Little Caesar's franchise owner Mike McGuire and city officials.

City staff warned McGuire several times over the past several years that stationing employees outside with branded t-shirts and hand-held signs was in violation of the city's sign ordinance.

With the exception of billboards, city ordinances do not allow businesses to have "off-premise" signs—a rule that is designed to keep visual clutter at the minimum and improve roadway safety, according to Eagan Communications Director Tom Garrison.

McGuire said he tried to comply with city requests, and moved Young and Clement away from the corner of Lexington Avenue and Diffley Road and into the parking lot he shares with several other businesses. But the final straw, McGuire said, came when city staff told him the two wavers couldn't be outside his business.

"That’s when I flipped a lid," McGuire said. "I said, 'Your interpretation of this code is ridiculous, and I’m not going to stand for it,'"

"When you have a local yard sale, or you have missing cats, or you have all this stuff, you can put [a sign] anywhere, but a local businessman trying to bring business in to keep people employed, then they don't follow by the same rules," McGuire said.

Clement and Young, who are autistic, were both put on a three-week hiatus. Because of their disabilities, neither could work inside the store, where the noise, and busy environment were detrimental for them.

Eagan city officials and McGuire recently came to a resolution over the sign ordinance that will keep Clement and Young outside the business—and the two outdoor promoters couldn't be happier.

"This is the most exciting job ever, it's going to give me an exciting future. I could not ever afford to lose this job, because if I do, my exciting future would be going downhill, and I couldn't afford that," Young said.