Glens Falls clerks propose overhaul of event vendor contracts, cut annual mobile‑food license to $100

City Clerk Megan Nolan and Deputy City Clerk Emily Neal told the Glens Falls Common Council on Feb. 25 that they will seek to change how the city permits mobile food vendors at public events, proposing that each vendor carry a city mobile‑food license and that the annual license fee be cut from $700 to $100.

Nolan said the change would replace existing umbrella agreements in which event organizers pay a fee and vendors operate under the organizer’s contract. "The mobile food vendors are not required to pay for a mobile food license. They're covered under the contract, and the organizer pays a fee to the city directly," Nolan said. Under the proposal, vendors would obtain their own permits and the clerk's office would administer a uniform fee schedule.

The proposal, Nolan and Emily Neal said, is meant to "level the playing field" for small businesses and to reduce confusion about when a vendor needs permitting. Neal said the clerk's office received numerous complaints last year from vendors and organizers about inequitable treatment and uncertainty over which events required permits. Nolan noted health and safety checks would remain required: vendors must provide Department of Health certification from the local district office, and certain vehicles would still require fire inspections.

Current permit fees discussed at the meeting include $75 for a weekly license, $500 for a seasonal permit and $700 for an annual permit. The clerks proposed lowering the annual fee to $100 and offering a reduced weekly fee of $25 for one‑off vendors. Nolan said the city's existing peddler permit (codified as section 156) carries a $200 fee and suggested the council might align those fees in a later step.

Council members asked about revenue impacts, enforcement and how the change would affect the Farmers Market and organizations that now pay lump sums to the city. Nolan and Neal said they have met with two of the three event holders that have contracts; both were "very receptive," and the clerk's office planned to meet the third organizer. The clerks said removing umbrella contracts would require vendors to obtain city permits to participate across events, but event organizers could still charge vendors their own fees.

On enforcement, Nolan said permits would be required to be displayed and that responsibility for enforcement rests with the city's health officer and law enforcement, consistent with existing code. She also told the council the clerk's office would post the fee schedule on the city's website and administer permits through the clerk's office until code changes are made.

No formal vote to change the fee schedule was recorded at the Feb. 25 meeting. Nolan said she would ask the council at the next meeting to approve a temporary amended fee schedule, pending a local law and public hearing to update the code. Meanwhile, staff said they would continue to process permits so upcoming March events would not be affected.

Details preserved from the discussion: proposed fees, Department of Health certification requirement, display and enforcement expectations, and the clerks' plan to return to the council with a fee schedule and proposed local‑law code edits.

The clerks framed the change as an administrative and equity measure rather than a new regulatory burden on restaurants: brick‑and‑mortar restaurants that already operate under existing code would not be affected, Nolan said. The council requested the clerks inform members if any organizer raises substantive objections before the next meeting.