[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of the Town of North Smithfield as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 9-17-1984 (Ch. 11, Art. VIII, of the 1994 Code)]
As used in this article, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:
CHARITABLE
Includes benevolent, educational, philanthropic, humane, patriotic, social service, and civic or fraternal.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Includes the receipt of anything of value, including the loan of money.
EDUCATIONAL or EDUCATION
Shall have the meaning commonly accepted therefor.
PERSON or PERSONS
Includes any individual, firm or partnership, corporation, company, association, or joint-stock association, church, religious sect, religious denomination, society, organization or league, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or agent or similar representative thereof.
RELIGIOUS or RELIGION
Shall have the meaning commonly accepted therefor.
SOLICIT and SOLICITATION
The request, either directly or indirectly, for money, credit, property, financial assistance or other thing of value, or any plea or representation that such money, credit, property, financial assistance or other thing of value will be used for charitable or religious or commercial purposes.
[Amended 9-16-2002]
No person, group of persons, nor representatives of any charitable organizations, including any benevolent, educational, philanthropic, humane, patriotic, social service, civic or fraternal, or religious organizations, no persons representing organizations of any kind, nature or purpose whatsoever, shall solicit donations, contributions, subscriptions or memberships or in any other manner solicit, within the Town of North Smithfield, without having first received a permit from the Town Council pursuant to the terms of this article; provided, however, that no permit shall be required for door-to-door advocacy of a charitable, religious educational or political cause, or dissemination of information in support thereof.
An application for a permit pursuant to this article shall be made to the Town Council on a form provided by the Town Clerk. Such application shall be sworn to in duplicate and filed with the Town Clerk at least 14 days prior to the time when the permit applied for shall become effective. Applications for permits required under § 263-2 shall contain the following information:
A. 
The name, address, and date of birth of the person applying for the permit.
B. 
If the applicant is not an individual, the names, addresses, and dates of birth of the applicant's principal officers and/or directors.
C. 
The names and addresses of the person or persons in charge of conducting the solicitation, and the names and addresses of any persons who will conduct such solicitation together with a statement as to whether or not any such person or persons have been convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude, and if so, the nature of such offense, the date of such conviction, and the sentence imposed, if any.
D. 
If motor vehicles are to be used in conducting the solicitation, the description and registration number of all such vehicles.
E. 
The date or dates and the hours of the solicitation and a brief outline as to the method or methods to be used in conducting the solicitation.
Upon compliance with the provisions of § 263-3, the Town Council shall issue a permit to the applicant for the period requested, which period shall not exceed one year.
Any permit issued under this article shall be nontransferable and shall be returned to the Town Clerk within three days of its expiration, together with all facsimile copies thereof.
Any person residing in the Town of North Smithfield may affix to the entrance of his residence a sign approximately four inches square containing the legend "no solicitations." Any person required to be licensed under the provisions of this article who shall make or attempt to make any solicitation or sale at a residence so marked shall be deemed to have violated the provisions hereof.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
The fee for any permit issued pursuant to this article shall be in an amount as set from time to time by the Town Council; provided, however, that no fee shall be charged in the case of solicitations conducted on behalf of any nonprofit, educational, charitable, or religious organizations.
Any person who violates the provisions of this article or who files, or causes to be filed, an application for a permit under this article containing false or fraudulent statements, or who utilizes or employs fraudulent means in connection with any solicitation, shall be deemed to have violated this article. Such violation shall be deemed a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, such person or persons shall be fined not exceeding $500.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part of this article shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not effect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.
[Adopted 9-17-1984 (Ch. 11, Art. IX, of the 1994 Code)]
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
No person (or business) shall hawk or peddle within the Town or offer for sale, take orders for sale or sell on any street, highway, lane or alley within the Town, any goods, wares, merchandise, foodstuffs, flowers, magazines, subscriptions, books or any other articles or substances from any vehicle, cart, pushcart, basket or hand-carried, without first obtaining a license from the Town Council; provided, however, that no license is required of any person selling religious books and publications on behalf of bible, tract, or other religious or moral societies for the purpose of promoting religious or moral improvement, and which are sold for that purpose and not for pecuniary profit, nor of any person peddling or selling any articles of wearing apparel manufactured with his or her own hands.
A. 
All hawkers and peddlers and all persons or businesses offering for sale, taking orders for sale or selling any goods, wares, merchandise, or any other articles or substances on any street or other public way within the Town shall make application to the Town Council for a license. Such application shall be made even if the applicant holds a state peddlers license, and upon approval of such application by the Town Council, the Town Clerk shall issue a license to such person or business respectively, to sell the articles or substances herein mentioned upon any street, highway, lane or alley in the Town; provided, however, that no license to sell or offer to sell shall be issued for the sale of any meats, fruits, poultry, fish, vegetables or food products of a perishable nature unless all necessary state approvals have first been obtained by the applicant.
B. 
The application required above shall specify the days and hours of such day during which the applicant wishes to operate, the goods and articles which will be sold, the year, make, model and registration number of any vehicle to be used and the location or locations at which the operations shall take place.
C. 
The applicant shall, when making application for a license, provide two so-called "passport-size photographs" of the individual authorized to act under said license. Upon approval of such application by the Town Council, the Town Clerk shall, in addition to the license specified above, issue an identification badge containing one of the photographs of the authorized individual along with the effective dates of the license and such other information as the Town Clerk shall deem appropriate. The Town Clerk shall maintain the other photograph with the application.
D. 
No license shall be issued under this section without the hawker or peddler providing proof that he or she has been issued a permit to make sales at retail by the Division of Taxation. Each applicant shall provide two forms of identification containing the applicant's address prior to the issuance of that peddling license. If the applicant is a resident of a homeless shelter or other transitional housing program, a letter certifying this residency from the homeless shelter or transitional housing program is acceptable in lieu of the two forms of identification containing the applicant's address.
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
A. 
A filing fee shall be charged for such application in accordance with the fee rate schedule of the Town and shall be retained by the Town whether said license is granted or denied.
B. 
For licenses issued pursuant to this article, the person receiving the same shall pay to the Town a fee in an amount as set from time to time by the Town Council.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
In addition to the exemption from fees set forth in R.I.G.L. Tile 5, Chapter 11, no license fee shall be charged to any person or business which qualifies as a nonprofit organization with tax-exempt status.
A. 
No license issued pursuant to this article shall be transferable, nor shall it authorize any person other than the individual to whom it was issued and named therein to act thereunder. Every licensee shall carry with him such license while engaged in peddling and produce the same when required by an inhabitant of the state or any person having a license under this article, and failure on his part to produce the same within 10 minutes shall be cause for the revocation of such license.
B. 
Every licensee shall wear, while engaged in any activity regulated by this article, the identification badge issued by the Town Clerk. Such identification badge shall be worn so that it is clearly visible. Violation of this section shall be cause for the revocation of the license issued under this article.
Any peddler, hawker, or other person requiring a license under this article while engaged in any activity regulated by this article who shall neglect or refuse to wear the identification badge specified in this article or who shall neglect or refuse for a space of 10 minutes after demand by any inhabitant of the state or any person having a license under this article to exhibit the license issued pursuant to this article and allow the same to be read shall, if sued or prosecuted under R.I.G.L. Tile 5, Chapter 11, and any amendment thereto, be adjudged to pay the costs of such suit or prosecution, although it shall appear on trial that he had a license duly issued and in force at the time of the alleged offense.
All peddlers, hawkers, or other persons requiring a license under this article who sell food or beverages of any kind or product for human consumption shall, before the license is issued, have their truck, wagon, or other equipment inspected and approved by all necessary state agencies; no beverages of any kind shall be sold other than in a single-service, disposable-type container.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
No peddling, hawking, or other activity regulated by this article shall be permitted anywhere in the Town, except between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to dusk in residential areas and business areas.
No peddler, hawker, or other persons requiring a license under this article shall attempt to sell or offer to sell his wares by means of any loudspeaker or other noisemaking device intended to attract public attention, nor shall be created a nuisance situation.
A. 
Peddlers, hawkers, or other persons requiring a license under this article shall be moving at all times except to service customers and shall not remain in any location awaiting patrons. Stopping for servicing customers shall be in a manner not to impede the flow of traffic.
B. 
Provided, however, that licensees who obtain the written consent of the owners of real estate may locate their activity on such real estate and remain stationary at such location. Such consent shall be nontransferable and personal to the licensee and effective for no longer than the duration of the license issued to such licensee under this article.
C. 
The Chief of Police may, from time to time, submit to the Town Council locations, streets and public ways throughout the Town which in his opinion, because of excess traffic and congestion, are rendered unsafe for the public welfare to allow the selling or offering for sale of merchandise by peddlers, hawkers, or other person requiring a license under this article.
D. 
At no time shall any peddler, hawker, or other person requiring a license under this article impede the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, and the Chief of Police shall have the authority to suspend the operation of such licensee at any time and for such period of time where conditions exist that he deems it in the interest of public safety to do so, without prior request to the Town Council.
A. 
Enumerated. For the purpose of this article, the Town shall have three categories of licenses:
(1) 
Those persons or businesses selling or offering to sell perishable foodstuffs and soft beverages.
(2) 
Those persons selling or offering for sale articles or goods made by their own hand.
(3) 
Those persons or businesses selling or offering for sale other articles of general merchandise or manufacture, including flowers, magazines and subscriptions.
B. 
Limitations. The Town Council shall allow a maximum of 10 licenses in Category 1; a maximum of five licenses in Category 2; and a maximum of five licenses in Category 3.
C. 
Vacancies. The Town Clerk shall maintain a list of persons interested in obtaining each category of license and upon the occurrence of a vacancy in such category, shall notify the person whose name appears first on the waiting list of such category of the availability of a license. If the person so notified fails to make application for said license within 10 days after notification, the Town Clerk shall remove that person's name from the list and notify the person whose name appears next on said list until an application is received. In the event that the Town Council does not approve the application, the Town Clerk shall repeat the notification process until an application is approved.
In addition to the licenses hereinbefore referred to, the Town Council shall have the authority to issue daily licenses to residents of the Town or other person having a permanent establishment located within the Town. Such licenses shall authorize the holder to engage in activities similar to those regulated by this article and shall subject the holder thereof to all of the provisions of this article with respect to such activities. There shall be no license fee for the issuance of such special license.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
Any person violating the provisions of this article shall be subject to a penalty of $200 or imprisonment not exceeding 10 days for each offense. Every individual sale, or offer for sale, made contrary to the provisions of this article shall be deemed and construed as a distinct and separate offense.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part of this article shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not effect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part directly involved in the controversy in which judgment shall have been rendered.