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Council adopts peddlers and solicitors ordinance with sports‑activity exemption
Summary
Chief Dorsy presented an ordinance to regulate door‑to‑door commercial solicitation. Council added an exemption for local sports‑related fundraising and approved the ordinance as amended by unanimous vote.
Chief Michael Dorsy opened the item by explaining the city lacks a clear permitting process governing door‑to‑door commercial solicitation and that residents had expressed privacy and safety concerns. He said the proposed ordinance would establish a permit requirement, time‑of‑day restrictions and reasonable exemptions for noncommercial or constitutionally protected expressive activities.
Council discussed Section 13, a list of exemptions. Several councilmembers suggested adding an explicit exemption to cover community sports‑related fundraising (for example, youth baseball or community sports boosters) that might not be school‑sponsored. Chief Dorsy agreed to add a line to section 13 to exempt "Bruceville‑Eddy sports‑related activities."
A motion to adopt Ordinance 05‑28‑26‑1 as amended passed unanimously. The ordinance includes enforcement provisions and allows narrowly tailored time, place and manner rules while recognizing protected speech rights.
Chief Dorsy said staff will prepare the final ordinance language incorporating the new exemption for codification.
