Local vendors ask Picayune to amend mobile‑food ordinance to allow permanent hookups

Local business owner Lisa James asked the Picayune City Council to amend Ordinance 975, which governs mobile food vendors, to allow regular vendors on private property to use permanent electrical hookups rather than generators.

"We would like to request an amendment to ordinance 975...regarding self contained utilities," James said, asking the city to consider infrastructure or location provisions that would let property owners install hookups underground for safety and to reduce noise and exhaust from generators. James said she has four regular vendors who serve roughly 2,000 people per week at her site and offered a sample ordinance from a Texas municipality as a drafting reference.

James also said she consulted a state representative who told her mobile food rules are set by municipalities, not the state; city staff said they had reviewed municipal models, noted that locally some municipalities permit mobile‑vendor areas while others do not because of conflicts with existing restaurants, and promised to draft options for council consideration.

City Manager Miller (speaker) said he and staff had reviewed the ordinance and spoken with legal counsel and that the council could expect proposed language in the coming weeks. Council members expressed interest in a designated area with defined hookups rather than allowing food trucks across the entire city.

The council did not vote on an ordinance change at the meeting; staff said they would return with a proposal for review.