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As used in this chapter, the following term has the following meaning:
SOLICITOR: Any person engaging in the following:
A. Offering and exposing goods, wares, merchandise, products, or services for sale, or taking or soliciting orders for goods, wares, merchandise, products, or services for future delivery from place to place, house to house, door to door, or street to street, whether the person collects advance payments for such sales or not; but excluding calling upon or soliciting business establishments, professional offices, or institutions, exclusively, or calling on prospective customers by appointment only.
B. Selling goods, wares, merchandise, products, or services from any fixed or temporary location, which is temporarily maintained or when such business is intermittently carried on and there is no intention to conduct the same permanently within the City, but excluding temporarily locating in the City and engaging in the taking of orders for merchandise or services, whether for immediate or future delivery. Any person is presumed to be temporarily or intermittently selling or offering to sell goods or services, unless such person intends to and does remain continuously in business at each location where such sales are offered for a period of more than sixty (60) days. (Ord. 16-13, 3-4-2013)
A. No person may engage in business as a solicitor without first obtaining a license therefor and paying the license fee.
B. No person having control of private property within the City may knowingly permit another person to engage in business on or about that property as a solicitor without first requiring that person to obtain a license therefor. (Ord. 16-13, 3-4-2013)
This chapter does not apply to the following:
A. Vendors of goods, merchandise, or services delivered or sold to established customers;
B. Nonprofit organizations filed under or authorized by chapter 504 of the Iowa Code or authorized and organized under statutes or regulations of the United States government or approved by the Internal Revenue Service, where such organizations have a permanent office in Dubuque County, Iowa;
C. Churches and public and private schools and colleges that have a permanent office in Dubuque County, Iowa;
D. Nonprofit clubs and lodges not ordinarily conducted as a business and which do not meet the requirements of chapter 504 of the Iowa Code and that have a permanent office in Dubuque County, Iowa;
E. Persons selling at wholesale to merchants, persons selling their own art or handicrafts either by themselves or through employees, or nonprofit civic, charitable, religious, or educational groups or members or employees thereof engaged in retail sale for the purpose of fundraising;
F. Central Market and other permitted farmers' market businesses licensed in accordance with this Code; or
G. Persons that purchase gold, bullion, ingots, precious metals, and jewelry. Such persons are subject to the pawnbroker and secondhand dealer regulations set forth in chapter 6, article A of this title. (Ord. 23-19, 5-6-2019)
An application for a solicitor's license must be filed with the City Clerk on a form provided by the City Clerk. The application must be signed by the applicant and must include the following information:
A. The applicant's name, permanent and local address, business address, if any, and physical description.
B. The applicant's employer or sponsor, if any, and the employer or sponsor's address and telephone number, the nature of the applicant's business, and the last three (3) places of such business.
C. If the applicant is a corporation, the corporation address and the names and addresses of the officers thereof. If the applicant is a firm, partnership, or association, the firm, partnership, or association's address and the names and addresses of all the members thereof. If the applicant is a corporation, the application must state whether or not the applicant is an Iowa corporation or a foreign corporation, and if a foreign corporation, whether or not such corporation is authorized to do business in Iowa.
D. If the application is being made by an agent, bailee, consignee, or employee, the application must state and set out the name and address of such agent, bailee, consignee, or employee and must also include the name and address of the owner of the goods, wares, and merchandise to be sold or offered for sale.
E. The application must state whether or not the applicant has an Iowa Retailer's Sales Tax permit and if the applicant has such permit, the number of such permit.
F. The value of the goods, wares, products, or merchandise to be sold or offered for sale, or the average inventory to be carried if the solicitor is carrying on an intermittent or temporary business.
G. The date(s) upon which goods, wares, products, or merchandise will be sold or offered for sale, or the date(s) upon which it is the intention of the applicant to engage in or conduct a temporary or intermittent business.
H. The location and address where such goods, wares, products, or merchandise will be sold or offered for sale or such business engaged in or conducted.
I. The names of two (2) property owners of the City who will certify as to the applicant's good repute and business responsibility, or in lieu thereof, the applicant's fingerprints and any other information that may be required by the City Clerk to properly investigate such reputation and business responsibility.
J. The applicant must agree to appoint the City Clerk as agent of the applicant for service of process. In the event of such service, the City Clerk must mail by certified mail, return receipt requested, a copy of said process to the address of the applicant shown on the application.
K. At the time of filing the application, the applicant must provide two (2) forms of identification, including one form with picture identification. (Ord. 16-13, 3-4-2013)
An applicant for a license must file with the City Clerk a surety bond in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) conditioned on the following:
A. That the applicant will fully comply with all ordinances of the City and laws regulating solicitor sales;
B. The payment by the applicant of all taxes that may be payable by or due from the applicant to the State of Iowa or the City of Dubuque;
C. The payment of any fines that may be assessed by any court against the applicant for violation of the provisions of this chapter;
D. The payment and satisfaction of any and all causes of action against the applicant commenced within one year from the date of sale and arising from such sale; provided, however, that the aggregate liability of the surety for all such taxes, fines, and causes of action must in no event exceed the principal sum of such bond; and
E. Guaranteeing to any resident of the city that all monies paid will be accounted for and applied according to the representation of the licensee. Said bond will continue in force as to such surety for not less than one year from the date of the license. Action on such bond may be brought by any resident of the city. (Ord. 16-13, 3-4-2013)
A. Upon receiving an application for a solicitor's license, with an appropriate bond attached thereto, if the city clerk is satisfied that the statements and representations contained in the application are true, that the applicant meets all of the requirements of this chapter, that the applicant is the holder of an Iowa retailer's sales tax permit, when required/if applicable, and that if a foreign corporation, has the authority to do business in the state of Iowa, the city clerk must issue to the applicant a license.
B. A license is valid only for the period of time and at the location and place described in the application. In the case of a qualified applicant proposing to conduct business or to sell from more than one location, the city clerk must issue a separate license for each location. (Ord. 16-13, 3-4-2013)
A solicitor must, at all times while doing business in this city, prominently display the license for the period of time and at the location and place described in the application so that it is clearly visible to anyone to whom the person is selling or offering for sale goods, merchandise, products, or services. The licensee must also, at the time of selling or offering for sale goods, merchandise, products, or services, provide each prospective customer with an opportunity to view the license. (Ord. 16-13, 3-4-2013)
It is unlawful for any solicitor making sales or engaging in or conducting a business under a solicitor's license to make any false or misleading statement or representation regarding any article sold or offered for sale by such solicitor as to condition, quality, original cost, or cost to such solicitor of any article sold or offered for sale, or to sell or offer for sale goods, wares, products, or merchandise of a value in excess of the value thereof as shown by said application, or to sell or offer for sale at retail any goods, wares, products, or merchandise or to engage in or conduct an intermittent or temporary business on any day or at any place other than those shown by such license. A solicitor who violates any provision of this chapter is ineligible for a license for a period of two (2) years from the date of such violation. (Ord. 16-13, 3-4-2013)
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