SANGER – During its most recent city council meeting, the city council got down to business on some items meant to keep the city up-to-date on local and statewide changes.
On Aug. 6, the Sanger City Council followed up on three items from the July 16 meeting: a ballot measure to raise the city’s hotel tax to 12%, updated regulations for mobile food vendors and a restructuring of the city’s planning commission. While all three moved forward relatively seamlessly during their introductions, council members and residents took a little more time to discuss before finalizing some of these items.
Cooking up an ordinance
An item that sparked some of the most discussion was the mobile and sidewalk vendor ordinance, pulled from the consent calendar by Councilmember Esmeralda Hurtado. Among many other guidelines, the ordinance outlines conditions to operate, lists all of the proper licensing required for different types of vendors, establishes authority to confiscate vendor equipment if not properly licensed and more.
Hurtado, who has previously been vocal about making sure the city gets its vendor ordinance right, was absent from the July 16 meeting, and thus wanted to ask Community Development Director Joshua Goggins a few clarifying questions before giving her vote on the ordinance’s adoption…