Kelly Kenoyer
City officials are planning to implement a requirement for all businesses within city limits to have a license, and the City Council is expected to vote on that proposal in an upcoming meeting.
The council’s Tuesday, Nov. 25, meeting was held virtually, with Councilors Diane Gerson and Mayor Greg Mahler the only members present in the council chambers. Lisa Gourley, James Goble, Susan Coleman and Dave Trask attended remotely, as did most of the city staff.
Community and Economic Development Director Blair Larsen told the council the business license program would largely be aimed at information gathering – the city ran into significant problems with outreach during the coronavirus crisis, as not all businesses that qualify for COVID relief have applied for it.
A business license requirement would make contact information for area businesses easily available to city staff, for reasons like COVID or emergencies.
“This is not for regulatory purposes,” Larsen said, adding that it’s also not aimed at “kids selling lemonade on the corner” or teen babysitters. While business licenses aren’t particularly common in Linn County at this time, he said other local jurisdictions are considering implementing them for the same reasons as Sweet Home.
Trask asked what the enforcement mechanism would be for the ordinance, and Larsen said it would be a violation to operate without a license.
The business license registration would include information describing the business carried on in the city, and the name(s) of the applicant and all persons having an interest in the business, whether proprietors or owners. It would also include the business location and contact information for the owner or manager, including phone, email and mailing addresses.
The city manager would have the discretion to require proof of permits related to the business, a site plan of the area where the structure, and other information related to parking, compliance with building codes and food handler’s licenses. The latter requirements proved to be more controversial for the council, and Gerson suggested that entire section be removed, with other councilors pointing to specific requirements that they disliked.
After City Manager Ray Towry raised the possibility of requiring background checks with the license, to prevent criminals from opening businesses related to their prior criminal activity, councilor Gerson said she’d prefer for the license to be informational, not regulatory. Goble and Coleman both agreed.
The overall consensus was for the license requirement to be as painless as possible, while still providing vital information to city staff.
One controversial element of the drafted resolution was a limit on yard sales to two a year.
“I think that’s a little low,” Goble said. “That’s community helping community and being nice and neighborly.”
Larsen responded that the number per year could be changed, but said the limit was intended to address businesses that operate similarly to yard sales, but for the entire year.
“It’s a blurry line,” he said. “You can decide whether that’s something you want in your city.
License applications will cost approximately $15, just enough to “cover the amount of time it would take for that staff member to enter the information in,” Larsen said.
After councilors came to some consensus about the limitations they’d like on the ordinance, they decided to withhold a vote and return the resolution to city staff for revision. Mahler asked whether the city had heard any comments from the public about the topic, and the city had not.
In other business:
– Councilors passed a previously discussed resolution to give the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District its own buildings. The fire hall at 1099 Long and the substation at 1390 47th had previously belonged to the city, with the fire district paying $100 a year to lease the buildings, in an arrangement ending in 2051.
City Attorney Rob Snyder told the council, “Now would be a convenient time for them because they’ll be applying to grants for seismic refurbishment and this will help them with the application.”
The resolution passed unanimously, and the deed for the two buildings was signed over to the fire district, with the requirement that the buildings return to the city if they’re not in use for “active fire department purposes.” The city did not charge the district anything for the buildings.
– The council discussed modifications to the Commercial Exterior Improvement Program, which currently provides grants to downtown businesses to improve their presence, with matching grants up to $5,000. Councilors discussed the merits of increasing the maximum grant, and eventually came to a consensus that a $15,000 maximum would be appropriate.
Additionally, Gourley suggested giving grants without matching requirements to businesses hit hard by COVID-19. Those unmatched grants would be in smaller amounts, up to $5,000, she suggested. Other councilors chimed in in agreement, and staff will bring that item back for a vote at a future meeting.
– Towry brought up the idea of a COVID-19 business loan program, which he asked Larsen to write up for council’s discussion. Though Larsen said it’s rare for cities to provide loans to businesses, he said it is true that state and federal government haven’t provided very much assistance during the recent spike in COVID and related shut-downs.
“I would want this as narrowly focused as possible and it would need to be done by contract and we would need to secure collateral,” Larsen said. “It is important to help businesses realize the city is here wanting to help.”
He added that the city might not see a loan payment until March or later because of the strange times, and that the risk with any loan is that you might not get it back.
“Cities aren’t interested in owning whatever may be offered as security,” he said. “On the other hand I’m not opposed to the city owning anything downtown, but we don’t want a loan from the city to be the reason a business closes downtown.”
There would be about $400,000 to $450,000 in funding available for this possible project through the Economic Development Fund, but councilors weren’t particularly comfortable with the city getting involved in lending.
“Right now there are two businesses that are locked down, but what if there were four?” Gerson asked. She also pointed to other ideas that the Council has “agreed we want to do” with those funds. Others were very concerned about the futures of the businesses in question.
“This is a national discussion. Rural America is in trouble. we are going to come out of this and our community is going to want those businesses to be in place,” Gourley said. “But I don’t think the citizens will take it lightly that we would lose them because they couldn’t make it a few more months.”
Mahler agreed that it’s a difficult situation, but wasn’t comfortable with a loan. “I really do feel for the small businesses, trust me, I’m there. I feel it because this is a struggle.”
The council came to a consensus of discomfort with the idea of lending money, and the motion died with no vote.
– The Council voted to cancel their meeting on Dec. 22 to give everyone the night off in light of Christmas week.