A. Any vendor who desires to engage in door-to-door solicitation shall first obtain from the Columbus police department a non-transferable door-to-door solicitation license ("license") permitting such activity by vendor and/or by vendor's employees and agents. Said license shall be requested by the vendor and obtained from the Columbus police department on weekdays (Monday - Friday), not including holidays, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
B. If the vendor intends to sell or offers to sell any type of food or beverage, unless pre-packaged, the Columbus police department shall refer the application to the Bartholomew County health department for review and recommendation. The review shall include an inspection of all refrigeration equipment to be used by the vendor and shall insure that minimum sanitation requirements established by state and local law are met.
C. The Columbus police department shall provide to any person, upon request, a door-to-door vendor application form ("application") to be completed by a vendor and processed by the Columbus police department. The application shall seek general information about the vendor, vendor's business and the nature of vendor's proposed door-to-door solicitation. The application shall seek and shall be subject to the verification of relevant information about the vendor's company such as: date of incorporation; state of incorporation and if the corporation is formed outside of the State of Indiana, the date on which such corporation was qualified to transact business as a foreign corporation in Indiana and the applicant's status with the Indiana Better Business Bureau, or the Better Business Bureau of the state of incorporation and/or the home state of the corporation. The application shall also require a vendor to list the name of every employee and agent who will be involved in door-to-door solicitation pursuant to a license issued to the vendor under this section, and to obtain from the Indiana State Police Department and attach to the application a copy of the limited criminal history of the vendor and of each employee and agent of same who will be involved in door-to-door solicitation. The application shall require the vendor to state the name, address and telephone number of the contact person who will respond to consumer complaints who shall be available for a period of time not less than sixty days following the last date that the vendors sells or offers goods, wares, merchandise, food, services or subscriptions in the city. All completed applications shall be submitted to the Columbus police department for review by the chief of police, or his designee.
D. If, while any application is pending or during the term of any license granted thereon, there is any substantial change in fact, policy or method that would materially alter the information given in the application, the applicant shall notify the police department, in writing, of the change within seventy-two hours after such change. If the applicant or licensee fails to so notify the police department, any license issued to the applicant or vendor shall be suspended pursuant to a hearing set forth in Section 5.20.040 below.
E. A license and a non-transferable identification card shall be issued to a vendor by the chief of police upon such vendor's completion of an application, confirmation that such vendor has no felony or misdemeanor conviction within fifteen years of the application date for a crime of dishonesty, fraud, theft and/or moral turpitude, and such vendor has paid a license fee of fifteen dollars for a ten-day license or ninety dollars for a one-year license. Upon receipt of a license, a vendor must also purchase from the Columbus police department, at the cost of three dollars each, non-transferable identification cards for each adult employee and/or agent of vendor listed on vendor's application and for whom the chief of police or his/her designee has confirmed has no felony or misdemeanor conviction within fifteen years of vendor's application date for a crime of dishonesty, fraud, theft and/or moral turpitude. If a vendor's employee and/or agent is a minor, each minor employee and/or agent shall carry with him/her a copy of the vendor's license at all times while engaged in the act of door-to-door solicitation. In the event the vendor is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) entity, not-for-profit, nonprofit, charitable organization or any other organization exempt from Indiana gross retail tax, as identified and determined by the City of Columbus police department, said licensing fees shall be waived.
F. The decision as to whether an application is approved or denied shall be made by the chief of police within twenty days from the date the application is submitted to the Columbus police department for processing.
G. Vendor, and each of vendor's employees and agents, shall openly display upon his or her person an identification card issued by the Columbus police department whenever engaging in door-to-door solicitation. Vendors who receive a certificate from the IURC shall have the certificate upon their person whenever engaged in door-to-door solicitation.
(Ord. 16-2013 § 1, 2013; Ord. 09-29 § 2, 2009)