By Kerri Rempp
Nearly 90 minutes of debate on the merits of creating a separate food truck fee category equal in amount to the solicitor’s license fee dominated the Chadron City Council meeting Monday.
The city’s annual fee ordinance was up for its third and final reading, and a proposed addition regarding mobile food vendors drew questions, opposition and support from the audience.
Currently, the city uses the existing solicitor’s permit and fee structure for those vendors.
However, that ordinance includes language that does fit mobile food vendors, including a
requirement that they operate only from 9 a.m. to 5 pm.
Daily, weekly and annual fees are set under the solicitor’s ordinance, and the mobile food truck vendor fees approved Monday are equal to the solicitor’s fees, with the highest at $250 a year and the lowest being $50/day. Brenda Fritzler, owner of On the Spot Catering, objected to the new category, often referring to a vendor form she was shown that requires information she believes is out-of-bounds for the city to seek, including a plan for trash disposal and a letter of permission from any private property owner that allows her to set up her truck.
“I’m just trying to understand. Why are we paying more than the restaurants just to be a
business?” she asked.
Mayor George Klein noted that restaurants pay property taxes and city utilities, including water, sewer and trash. Council member Mark Graves also pointed out that the application form Fritzler referred to was not final; it’s one provided to the city as an example by another city and will very likely be changed to suit Chadron’s needs. A meeting for mobile food truck vendors is scheduled for Sept. 5 at 9 a.m. at City Hall, said City Clerk Donna Rust, to have discussions on those types of issues.
One Chadron resident and two rural Dawes County residents, none of whom operate a food
truck, also spoke against the fee ordinance if it included the mobile food truck portion. The city has also received a letter from the Institute of Justice speaking out against the proposal.
The city is simply seeking a way to treat mobile food vendors consistently, something that is
difficult to do with the current solicitor’s permitting process, said Rust. There is still a lot to be finalized, but the goal is to treat the vendors fairly and protect the citizens from a fly-by-night operation that comes in from out of town without the proper health and safety inspections. Klein noted that while trucks must follow health and safety regulations and be inspected by the state, the city has no way of knowing that has been done without a permitting process.
“That’s what we’re looking for. Can you check that box?” he said. Fritzler and those opposed to the plan also argued that mobile food vendors are not solicitors because they don’t go door-to-door, but Rust clarified that the definition of solicitor includes many things, including transient merchants, whether they are selling rugs or food.
Dave Miller, who builds, sells and operates food trucks out of Chadron, supported the move by the city and offered assistance in creating the process, as he travels the nation with his trucks and deals with these fees and licenses in several states.
“It’s a license. Buy it. Be done with it.” Miller said. “We pay fees all over. I don’t want to be a
solicitor as a food truck guy. I don’t want to follow those rules.”
As for the $50 increase for the annual permit planned for the new fiscal year starting on Oct. 1, he said. “It’s peanuts. It’s five orders of food.”
After the ordinance was approved, Graves said it was encouraging to see the community
participation and encouraged food truck vendors to attend the Thursday meeting.
“We all need to work together to formulate new policies,” he said.