McCaysville city officials discussed an amendment to the vendor ordinance which would allow street preachers and other non-profit type groups to hand out information for free.
City Attorney Cortney Stuart said the current vendor ordinance detailed that items couldn’t be given away, meaning drinks and the like. “This was put in place to anticipate events like arts in the park and regulating or controlling it the best way possible,” Stuart said. “Right now it says, for instance, you cannot give away anything, which was intended to mean that you, similar to how you can’t give away free beer, you can’t give away something with the purchase of something else and get around the vendor ordinance.
“Instead, what happened is that it was interpreted to, technically by definition, that you can’t give away tracts. Like Bible tracts, testimony tracts and that sort of thing. ... Because you can’t give away anything for free, which is a problem. We get into a first amendment issue there along with other things. There are some changes that need to be made to it.”
Stuart said that previous council member Rodney Patterson had her draw up an amendment that exempts non-profit organizations from the vendor ordinance by way of a one-year vendor permit. “I still think there needs to be more stuff in there,” Stuart said. The amendment includes a definition of a non-profit and that they’ll need a zero cost one-year permit rather than obtaining a permit for every event. It also says the city clerk would verify the non-profit status via “sufficient proof to the satisfaction to the city clerk,” understanding the fact that some non-profit folks may not have an official 501(c)3 document, such as street preachers.
The permit requirement is in there because the city wants to be aware of what’s going on in the city, according to Stuart. “So, if there is going to be a rally, we would like to know so we can properly police it.”
In other discussion, Stuart presented the Broadband Ready ordinance to council members. She said Fannin County Development Authority Executive Director Christie Gribble was facilitating a request by the state to have all the cities sign the ordinance. The state is requesting all Georgia jurisdictions to adopt a form ordinance to help facilitate an implementation of broadband services throughout the state.
The council members discussed pest control to combat spiders and other critters in a couple city buildings as well as discussed removing or grinding down certain speed humps in the city.
Projects and Events Manager/Police Chief Mike Earley said the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway train was interested in staying longer in town as well as adding additional trips to the calendar, which could be scheduled in concert with city events.
Earley said one of the tactical shields for the SWAT team that had been approved for purchase last year had finally arrived. He said the shields were needed and that they’ve already had two SWAT calls in 2020.
He also mentioned he needed a part-time officer and that he wanted to make the council aware of the future hiring even though he has authority to hire part-time officers without prior approval.
City officials will continue to discuss these topics as needed in future meetings and/or workshops.