Independence is planning to step up penalties for door-to-door salespeople who continue to operate in the city after violating city regulations governing solicitors.
Specifically, non-compliant solicitors who violate city ordinance more than once could risk arrest, a misdemeanor charge, fines of up to $500 and up to 90 days in jail. The city council performed a first reading of the ordinance establishing such penalties on Monday.
“We have found a few solicitors are not necessarily concerned with our ordinance, and the police recently – specifically – found that a solicitor flat out didn’t care,” said Mayor Chris Reinersman. “He was told he violated, and then he just went on and continued to do what he was doing.”
Door-to-door salespeople in Independence must get a license from both the county and the city to conduct business. They can only operate at certain times of the day, and if they violate the city’s regulations, they’re subject to a $50 fine for their first offense. There’s also a no-knock list, which is usually distributed to salespeople upon getting a license. The city increased its licensing fees for solicitors earlier this year.
Council Member Tom Brinker granted that “some of them legitimately may not know they have to get one (a license) from the city,” but he also attested that there were some companies that would swoop in at certain times of the year, knowingly avoid getting properly licensed and then duck out before any enforcement could occur.
Police Chief Brian Ferayorni spoke to this phenomenon, as well, although he could not speak to the specific details of the case Reinersman mentioned at Monday’s meeting, besides that it happened earlier this year.
“They either just get the Kenton County license, or they don’t get any license at all, and they just go out there and then they just pay the fine because it’s cheaper than the business they get,” Ferayorni said.
City Attorney Jack Gatlin said of the new penalty that “this is the county attorney’s language,” or rather, someone in the county attorney’s office. County attorneys in Kentucky are responsible for prosecuting misdemeanors.
“We don’t really care as long they stop when we tell them to stop,” Ferayorni said, “but when it gets to the point of, ‘we don’t care what you say; we’re just gonna keep going,’ it becomes a problem.”
The city council will perform a second reading and cast a final vote on the new ordinance next month. If you’re a resident of Independence and would like to sign up for the zero-knock list, fill out the city’s online contact form.
