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:
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.
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.
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)
