North St. Paul council approves cleanup to special-event rules; church speakers ask for nonprofit exemptions on food-truck fees

The North St. Paul City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance that removes an inactive vendor-license requirement from the city’s special-event rules and clarifies the new annual food-vendor permit and fire-inspection process.

City Attorney Jeff Birkbeck told the council the change is a “cleanup ordinance” removing the old per-event vendor license while leaving in place a separate annual food-vendor permit required by the city’s fire department. Birkbeck said the permit is primarily tied to a fire safety inspection; food trucks must still hold county or state food-safety credentials and submit insurance and inspection documentation to the city.

The change reduces the number of approvals an event organizer must obtain, but it does not alter the separate annual fee the council adopted earlier for food-truck inspections. According to staff statements at the meeting, that fee is $80 if applied for at least seven days before inspection; a day-of inspection costs $125, and an after-the-fact enforcement fee would be $160. City-issued food-vendor permits renew annually on April 30.

Representatives of Saint Peter’s Catholic Church urged the council to preserve an “umbrella” option or otherwise accommodate nonprofits that use vendor fees as fundraising. Jeff Schmidt, who identified himself as a nearly lifelong member of Saint Peter’s, and Carrie (who identified herself as speaking on behalf of Saint Peter’s Church) said the church typically charges food trucks a participation fee (about $100 per truck) and that the umbrella permit the city has historically issued made it possible for the church to cover truck licensing collectively. Carrie said many trucks arrive in September after extensive inspections at fairs and other events and that requiring each truck to pay an additional city fee would reduce the church’s ability to attract vendors and raise funds.

Council members and staff discussed reciprocity for fire inspections; Birkbeck said the city currently requires a local fire inspection for the specific truck that will operate in North St. Paul but staff can explore whether a documented fire-inspection component from another jurisdiction could be accepted as reciprocal. He cautioned that reciprocity would still require administrative verification that the outside inspection covered the city’s fire-safety concerns.

Council Member Woods moved to adopt the ordinance as presented; Council Member Norby seconded. The council voted to adopt the ordinance.

Council members asked staff to reach out to local nonprofits to measure the fee burden and to place the food-truck inspection rule and possible nonprofit accommodations on a future workshop agenda for further review.

The ordinance passed removes the per-event vendor license from the code and leaves in place the annual food-vendor permit tied to a fire inspection. City staff said the existing special-event fee for qualifying public charities (the umbrella fee) will be removed from the code as written, which will change how events are billed in future years unless the council later amends the food-truck inspection rule or adopts an exemption.