Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home City Council is considering an update to its ordinance governing peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants.
It held the first reading of an ordinance revision during its regular meeting on Feb. 12.
“The Police Department has reported that in the past in Sweet Home, that door-to-door salesmen have been, on occasion, intimidating in their sales approach and left the resident with the feeling that you had to buy the product or you would not be able to get rid of the salesman,” said City Attorney Robert Snyder. “This ordinance will gather the information needed to follow up on those cases and other cases that may involve door-to-door salesmen.”
City staff members met and discussed modifications they would like to see in the peddler’s ordinance, which is the ordinance that requires door-to-door salesmen to obtain a peddler’s license in Sweet Home. The Public Safety Committee reviewed the ordinance and provided amendments to the council for consideration.
Among the revisions, the ordinance makes definitions more precise, with a new definition for charitable organizations, which join political and religious purposes as exclusions under the ordinance.
“The city has not had problems with religious, political or charitable organizations soliciting or canvassing in the past, and these organizations are often regulated by other government agencies and their activities are protected to a high degree by the First Amendment,” Snyder said. Adding charitable organizations will allow groups like the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, the Boys and Girls Club, schools and more to run fund-raising efforts without registering as solicitors.
The new ordinance separates “transient merchants” from peddlers and solicitors, who go door-to-door, Snyder said. They have had different issues in the past. Transient merchants use temporary siting of businesses in town and are different from those who go door-to-door.
The ordinance will require peddlers and solicitors applying for a permit to provide a 15-year criminal history check for a felony and five years for a misdemeanor, Snyder said. It also requires a listing of stalking and restraining orders currently in place against the applicant for a permit.
The criminal history check is currently used in the city’s secondhand ordinance, before hiring prospective employees and enlisting volunteers, for driving under the influence diversions and under state law for a person who has a felony on his record and wants to possess a firearm, Snyder said.
The check may allow the city to deny, revoke or decline to renew a license for a felony and for misdemeanors involving moral turpitude or other characteristic relating to the safety of the public, economic or physical, Snyder said. At least two years must have elapsed after release from jail or prison to qualify for the license.
The ordinance will set the processing time at two days, Snyder said.
Transient merchants will only need to obtain a free license from City Hall, Snyder said. The ordinance may cover booths set up near the Oregon Jamboree that are not associated with the event. The Jamboree’s approval process includes a permit for merchants associated with the event.
On the other hand, for property owners selling in their yards, it may be different.
The Public Safety Committee discussed it, said Councilor Scott McKee Jr. “Those people are essentially having yard sales.”
The second reading of the ordinance will be held on Feb. 26. The third reading will be on March 12. After the third reading, the council may take action on the ordinance.
Present at the council meeting were Councilors Marybeth Angulo, Craig Fentiman, Mayor Jim Gourley, Bruce Hobbs, Greg Mahler, McKee and Dave Trask.
In other business, the council:
n Appointed Nick Rodgers to the Youth Advisory Council. Four openings remain. For more information or to apply to this or another committee, call the City Manager’s office at (541) 367-8969.
n Appointed Zach Lincoln and Jeffery N. Holmes to the Budget Committee. The Budget Committee is full.