Staff writer
Confusion stemming from a request by an individual from Emporia to “sell some wares” from under a tent on a piece in the city prompted city council Tuesday to revise an itinerant permit ordinance.
City administrator Larry Paine suggested that the ordinance be amended because some things have changed, while some still needed to be replaced.
“For example, we’ve got rules for people who live inside the county and rules for those who live outside the county,” Paine said. “It’s a discriminatory thing, so we need to fix that.”
Another example was a requirement for all businesses in Hillsboro to have business licenses. In a note accompanying the meeting agenda, Paine said that was a “practice we do not enforce.”
Paine met with city attorney Joshua Boehm before the meeting, pulling ordinances from cities such as Overland Park, Topeka, and Holcomb for examples.
“It has to clearly outline what the requirements and conditions and considerations are for approval,” Boehm said. “These are the things that administrators wants to go through to approve or deny these applications.”
Paine will create a form for itinerant vendor requests.
Mayor Delores Dalke, who was absent from the meeting, made a request relayed by Paine that applicants not set up on the same day as the Arts and Crafts fair.
“We are not going to allow somebody to set up a tent on the other side of AMPI in direct competition with the activities that go on with arts and crafts,” Paine said. “That will be the exception.”
City council also approved a motion to table the application until the ordinance was completely amended.