By Kerri Rempp
As more food trucks set up shop in Chadron on a weekly basis, the city is looking to protect residents’ health and level the playing field with brick-and-mortar restaurants.
City Clerk Donna Rust and Planning and Zoning Administrator Janet Johnson presented to the council the idea of a permit and fee for food trucks Monday. Currently, the pair said, the food trucks are paying for a solicitor’s license. That, however, does not allow the city to ensure that the trucks are properly licensed and following the rules and regulations established by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services or paying city sales tax.
“We need to protect the public and we need to protect the city,” Johnson said. The city’s planning commission has been looking at the issue since 2018, as brick-and-mortar
restaurants expressed concerns about competition from food trucks that are not contributing to the city. Other communities are having similar discussions, Johnson said, as trucks come in from out of state.
The council directed staff to continue to pursue the logistics of how the process would work and bring back a more refined proposal in conjunction with the city’s fee ordinance approved ahead of the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
“We don’t want to discourage them from coming,” said council member Miles Bannan, while
adding that there is a need for some structure as food trucks become more popular.