All groups or anyone that may ask for the right to solicit funds or other materials within the city may not solicit any funds or materials unless first being approved by and complying with the standards of the Better Business Bureau of Texas, and all solicitors must apply at the city office and the police department.
(Ordinance 176 adopted 3/13/80)
For purposes of this division this section contains definitions applicable to all sections of this division as follows:
Itinerant merchant or vendor.
Includes all persons, (peddlers, solicitors, hawkers, itinerant merchants, transient vendors) as well as their agents and employees, who engage in the temporary or transient business within the city limits of selling, or offering for sale, any goods or merchandise, or exhibiting the same for sale or exhibiting the same brochures, sales, literature or price lists for the purpose of taking orders for the sale thereof and who, for the purpose of carrying on such business or conducting such exhibits thereof, display, exhibit, sell or offer for sale such goods or merchandise upon or from a truck or other vehicle on the streets of the city, or who go from door to door of residences, offices or places of business to display, exhibit, sell or offer for sale such goods or merchandise or who hire, rent, lease, or occupy any room or space in any building, structure, other enclosure, vacant lot or any other property whatever in the city in, through or from which any goods or merchandise may be sold, offered for sale, exhibited for sale, or exhibited for the purpose of taking orders for the sale thereof.
Temporary.
Any such business transacted or conducted in the city for which definite arrangements have not been made for the hire, rental, or lease of premises for at least one month on or upon which such business is to be operated or conducted.
Transient.
Any such business as may be operated or conducted by persons or by their agents or employees who reside away from the city, or who have fixed places of business in places other than this city, or who have their headquarters in places other than this city, or who move stocks of goods or merchandise or samples thereof into this city, with the purpose or intention of removing them or the unsold portion thereof away from the city before the expiration of one (1) month.
(Ordinance 344SM adopted 6/6/17)
Any person, firm or corporation violating any provisions of this division or failing to observe any provisions hereof shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum of not less than $10.00 and not more than $500.00, and each and every day or fraction of a day that this division or any part thereof is violated shall be deemed a separate offense and punishable as such.
(Ordinance 344SM adopted 6/6/17)
This division is and shall be deemed an exercise of the police powers of the state and the city, for the public safety, comfort, convenience, welfare and protection of the city and all citizens of the city, and all of the provisions hereof shall be construed for the accomplishment of that purpose without discrimination against any person, firm, company or corporation.
(Ordinance 139, sec. 1, adopted –/–/–)
It shall hereafter be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation who engages in the occupation of a peddler, hawker, itinerant merchant, transient vendor of merchandise or who goes from house to house or from place to place within the city limits soliciting, selling, or taking orders for or offering for sale or taking orders for any goods, wares, merchandise, services, photographs, newspapers, magazines, books or subscriptions to any newspapers or magazines without first having applied for and obtained a license to do so from the city secretary.
(Ordinance 344SM adopted 6/6/17)
(a) 
Any person desiring to go from house to house or from place to place in the city to sell or solicit orders for goods, donations, wares, merchandise, services, photographs, newspapers, magazines, or books, or subscriptions to newspapers or magazines, shall make written application to the city secretary for a license to do so.
(b) 
Application shall be made by the person requesting a license upon forms available in the city office. Such application shall require the name, address, occupation of the applicant; the product or service to be sold; and such other information as may be required by the city to complete an investigation, including a criminal background check, as to the fitness of the applicant. All licenses must be approved by the city manager and chief of police. No license may be issued for a time period of more than twelve (12) months.
(c) 
Furthermore, the city shall issue a badge displaying the license number, type of sales, service, or solicitations, and the time period for which the license is issued which must be worn by the license holder at all times while conducting business within the city limits. The licensee must wear the badge in such a manner as to make it easy for any other person to identify the badge and the time period for which the license is granted.
(d) 
A license issued under the provision of this division is nontransferable and the licensee shall not make any false or fraudulent representation as to the product, goods, or services to be sold or relating to the authority of the licensee to sell such product, good, or service while within the city limits.
(Ordinance 344SM adopted 6/6/17)
The application for a license or permit shall be accompanied by a bond in the penal sum of $1,000.00, signed by the applicant and signed, as surety, by a surety company authorized to do business within the state, conditioned for the final delivery of goods, wares, merchandise, services, photographs, magazines, newspapers or books in accordance with the terms of any order obtained prior to delivery and also conditioned to indemnify any and all purchasers or customers for any and all defects in the material or workmanship that may exist in the article sold by the principal of said bond, at the time of delivery, and/or that may be discovered by such purchaser or customer within 30 days after delivery, and such bond shall be for the use and benefit of all persons, firms or corporations that may have made any purchase or given any order to the principal on said bond, or to any agent or employee of said principal. Provided that, in case the applicant is a person, firm, company, partnership, corporation, or association engaging in any activity mentioned in section 4.02.034 hereof through one or more agents or employees, such person, firm, company, partnership, corporation or association shall be required to enter only one bond, in the sum of $1,000.00 as above required, which bond shall be made to cover the activities of all its agents or employees.
(Ordinance 139, sec. 4, adopted –/–/–)
An itinerant merchant or an itinerant vendor as the terms are used in this division shall be held to be any person, firm, company, partnership, corporation or association engaged in any activity set out in section 4.02.034 hereof. If any itinerant merchant or vendor takes a lease or makes other provisions for the use of any place, building or lot where his business shall be carried on for a period of less than six months, then and in such event it shall be presumptive evidence that such person, firm, company, partnership, corporation or association is an itinerant merchant or vendor under the terms of this division.
(Ordinance 139, sec. 5, adopted –/–/–)
The license or permit fee for each itinerant merchant, solicitor, peddler, or vendor shall be $45.00. Each and every agent or employee so engaged shall be required to obtain a license. The license shall be valid for a period of one (1) year from date of issuance. No fee shall be required of those persons engaged in interstate commerce.
(Ordinance 344SM adopted 6/6/17)
The provisions of this division shall not apply to sales made to dealers by commercial travelers or sales agents in the usual course of business, nor sales made under authority and by order of law, nor to vendors of farm or dairy products, if same are sold by producers or growers of said products. Furthermore, this article shall not apply to:
(1) 
The sale of bread, milk, butter, eggs, meat, vegetables or other agricultural products grown by the seller.
(2) 
Ordinary commercial travelers who sell or exhibit for sale goods or merchandise to parties engaged in the business of buying and selling and dealing in goods or merchandise.
(3) 
Sales or exhibits at fairs, rodeos, conventions, or city, civic organization, church, or Chamber of Commerce sponsored events.
(4) 
Public school sponsored sales or civic organization activities.
(5) 
Persons engaged in interstate commerce.
(Ordinance 344SM adopted 6/6/17)
(a) 
The city manager or his designee, upon investigation by the chief of police, is authorized to revoke the peddler’s license of any person found to be misrepresenting or making false statements in regard to the product he or she is attempting to sell or his/her authority to sell such product or if the conduct of such person during selling endangers the safety, health or property of the citizens of the city.
(b) 
The license issued under this division may be suspended upon receipt by the chief of police or the city manager of complaints by two (2) or more persons that any license holder has made misrepresentations or false statements as to the product he/she is attempting to sell or take orders for, his/her authority to make such solicitation or that such license holder’s conduct, in the belief of such person(s) making the complaints, endangers, their safety, health, or property. Upon suspension, the chief of police shall immediately investigate such complaints and may revoke such license or give the license holder and complainants notice in writing that a hearing will be held, after twenty-four (24) hours from the issuance of such notice, regarding possible revocation of such license.
(Ordinance 344SM adopted 6/6/17)
No peddler, solicitor, or itinerant merchant shall have any exclusive right to any location on a public street, nor shall any peddler or vendor be permitted a stationary location, or be permitted to operate in any congested area where the operation might impede or inconvenience the public. For the purpose of this section, the judgment of a police officer, exercised in good faith, shall be deemed conclusive as to whether the area is congested or the public impeded or inconvenienced.
(Ordinance 344SM adopted 6/6/17)