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Board asks staff to revise transient merchant license; concerns raised about enforcement and intrusive application fields
Summary
Supervisors questioned enforcement practicality, data fields (Social Security number, birth data), and whether every vendor employee should hold a separate license; staff will revise the draft and return with streamlined language and suggested enforcement options.
Board members and vendors discussed a proposed transient retail merchant license ordinance intended to regulate temporary vendors, food trucks and event merchants.
Several supervisors and the business community objected to some application fields (for example, Social Security number, place and date of birth) and argued the form should be streamlined. A board member noted the current draft requires each individual working for a vendor to obtain a separate license and called that approach burdensome; staff confirmed the ordinance as written treats individual licenses as nontransferable and said renewals and lower fees were intended to ease compliance.
Enforcement practicality drew sustained attention. Staff said the township currently does not require vendors to display licenses and that requiring an on-table license (similar to a restaurant's health certificate) would facilitate spot checks. Supervisors suggested working with large event organizers (for example, Memorial Day or the Gold Mansion Museum) to collect vendor information and reduce staff enforcement burdens.
Food trucks are not exempt under the current draft, staff said, but the board discussed options for annual or event-based licensing to reduce administrative load. Board members asked the solicitor and staff to revise the ordinance to remove intrusive fields and streamline vendor reporting, and to return a marked-up version for future consideration.
