City Council Minutes 2005 12 06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes December 6, 2005 Page 5 of 16 Mayor Sisk requested a Staff presentation. Finance Director Patty Leslie explained this is the second reading and a public hearing for an ordinance to amend Title 5 of the Louisville Municipal code to add a new Chapter 5.06 regarding the regulation of vendors, solicitors and peddlers conducing business in the City of Louisville. The City of Louisville Municipal Code section 5.04 relating to Registration of Businesses has no provision to specifically regulate door-to-door solicitors, vendors or peddlers. Many door-to-door peddlers and solicitors obtain City sales tax licenses but never remit any tax. Others enter the City for short periods with the intent to evade City licensing requirements. City staff and law enforcement receive numerous complaints from residents each year about door-to-door peddlers and solicitors. The purpose of this ordinance amendment is to protect the safety and welfare of the public from persons who go door-to-door to sell goods or services and by prohibiting persons from going door-to-door to sell goods or services for future delivery when the persons require a prepayment from the purchaser. Prohibiting such door-to-door solicitations is necessary to protect the residents of the City from fraud and misrepresentation. Approval of this ordinance would prohibit door-to-door soliciting and peddling in the City, allow for residents and businesses to post "No Solicitation" and "No Trespassing" signs, and provide local law enforcement with the necessary regulations to monitor compliance and handle violators. This ordinance would provide for lawful soliciting by bona fide non-profit religious, charitable, school and civic organizations, or other organizations eligible for exemption under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Persons exercising their first amendment rights and other specific businesses that conduct regularly scheduled route sales would also be exempt. Mayor Sisk opened the public hearing and asked that Finance Director Leslie's presentation be included in the hearing. Police Chief Goodman provided an overview of a Green River Ordinance, which regulates door-to-door selling, canvassing, or soliciting of business. He explained the City's ordinance proposes to control itinerant commercial peddlers. He voiced his belief a strong ordinance that restricts commercial door-to-door peddlers is in the community's best interest and is desirable from a public safety perspective. Louisville's proposed ordinance does not attempt to control protected speech by solicitors, but it lawfully empowers residents to say "No" to solicitors, regardless of the basis for solicitation.