Bishop Municipal Code Ch. 5.24 Peddlers, Solicitors and Transient Vendors

A. Every person not having a permanent established place of business in the city who solicits from place to place or from house to house or upon the public streets or sidewalks or from a public place within the city, the purchase at retail of, or offers for retail sale, any goods, wares, merchandise, magazine subscriptions or services, which are not delivered or rendered to the purchaser at the time of such solicitation, shall, upon the acceptance by the city administrator of the application for a license to do so deposit with the city administrator a surety bond in the sum of $500.00 executed by a surety company authorized to execute such bonds in the state, or in lieu thereof a cash bond or like amount, conditioned that all goods, wares, merchandise, magazines or services sold by the person within the city shall be as represented and shall be delivered or rendered to the purchaser within the time specified.

B. If any articles or services sold by such solicitor are not as represented or are not delivered or rendered to the purchaser within the time specified, any person aggrieved thereby shall have the right to bring an action on the bond for the recovery of money or damages or both, together with costs and reasonable attorney's fees determined by the court. In the event that no such action is brought against a cash bond within 90 days after the expiration of the solicitor's license, the bond shall thereupon be returned to the solicitor without interest; otherwise, the same shall be retained by the city until the final determination of all such actions, whereupon the bond, or the remainder thereof, if any, shall be returned to the solicitor who deposited the same, without interest.

(Prior Code, § 14-1; Code 1985, § 5.24.010)

All persons operating as solicitors, peddlers, hawkers, salespersons or vendors, who go from house to house or upon any street, sidewalk, alley, park, or public place in the city, for the purpose of soliciting the purchases of or distributing goods, wares, merchandise, services, magazines, periodicals or other publications, or subscriptions for the same, except regularly published newspapers, shall make application to the license division of the city for registration and issuance of an identification card.

(Prior Code, § 14-2; Code 1985, § 5.24.020)

Upon receiving an application for solicitor's registration, the city administrator shall refer the application to the police department for investigation. Applicants for registration pursuant to this chapter may be required to:

A. Answer all reasonable questions concerning their personal background and moral character and proposed method of operation, and the product or merchandise to be sold or distributed;

B. Furnish two passport-sized photographs of themselves;

C. Allow the police department to take their fingerprints.

(Prior Code, § 14-3; Code 1985, § 5.24.030)

A. The police chief shall sign and issue identification cards to all applicants who have currently paid the license fee required under section 5.08.020 unless the chief of police shall recommend denial of the application on one or more of the following grounds:

1. The applicant has made a material misrepresentation of fact in the application;

2. The applicant is not a person of good moral character, based upon the applicant's record of criminal activities or other reliable evidence;

3. The proposed solicitation activity would lend itself to trickery, fraud or deceit.

B. Any person whose application for registration has been denied shall be notified in writing of the denial and the reasons therefor by the city administrator, by certified mail, directed to the address shown on the application. The applicant shall have the right of appeal to the city council which right may be exercised by filing a written notice of appeal with the city administrator within 15 days following the date upon which the notice of the denial was mailed to the applicant.

(Prior Code, § 14-4; Code 1985, § 5.24.040)

Any person who is engaged in, or acting as an agent for, any business entitled to exemption from local taxation by reason of its being engaged in interstate commerce shall be required to make application for registration and issuance of an identification card in accordance with the requirements of this chapter, but shall be exempt from the license fee as provided in section 5.08.020 and the bonding requirements of section 5.24.010, upon satisfactory evidence being presented to the city administrator of their right of exemption.

(Prior Code, §14-5; Code 1985, § 5.24.050)

The provisions of section 5.24.050 shall not be deemed to apply to the distribution of mail by the United States Post Office or to newspapers delivered on a subscription basis.

(Prior Code, § 14-6; Code 1985, § 5.24.060)