Borough of Verona, PA Peddling and Soliciting; Special Sales

Any person desiring to solicit or have solicited in its, his or her name donations, money, property or financial assistance of any kind, or desiring to sell any item of literature, tokens or merchandise or disseminate any type or form of information without a fee or donation from or to persons, other than members of such organizations, upon the streets, in office buildings, by house-to-house canvass or in public places for a charitable, religious, patriotic, philanthropic or political purpose.

PERSON

Any natural person or individual, organization, society, partnership, association, corporation or other legal entity.

TRANSIENT MERCHANT

Any person, whether a resident of the Borough or not, who engages in transient retail business.

TRANSIENT RETAIL BUSINESS

The following:

(1)

Engaging in peddling, soliciting or taking orders, either by sample or otherwise, for any goods, wares or merchandise upon any street, alley, sidewalk or public ground or from house to house within the Borough of Verona.

(2)

Selling, soliciting or taking orders for any goods, wares or merchandise from a fixed location within the Borough on a temporary basis, which shall include but shall not be limited to such activities conducted at the time of special occasions or celebrations, for seasonal purposes, or for or in advance of specific yearly holidays.

The singular shall include the plural, the plural shall include the singular, and the masculine shall include the feminine and neuter.

§ 168-2 License required; fee; conditions thereof.

No person shall engage in any transient retail business within the Borough without first having obtained from the Mayor or Chief of Police a license, for which a fee, which shall be for the use of the Borough, shall be charged in the amounts of $3 per day, $10 per week, $25 per month and $100 per year, provided that no license fee shall be charged under this section:

(1)

To farmers selling their own produce.

(2)

For the sale of goods, wares and merchandise, donated by the owners thereof, the proceeds whereof are to be applied to any charitable or philanthropic purpose.

(3)

To any manufacturer or producer in the sale of bread and bakery products, meat and meat products, or milk and milk products.

(4)

To children under the age of 18 years who take orders for and deliver newspapers, greeting cards, candy, bakery products and the like, or who represent the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts or similar organizations.

But all persons exempted, as set forth in this article, from the payment of the license fee shall be required to register with the Mayor or the Chief of Police and obtain a license without fee; provided, further, any person dealing in one or more of the above-mentioned exempted categories, and dealing with other goods, wares or merchandise not so exempted, shall be subject to the payment of the license fee fixed by this section for his activities in connection with the sale of goods, wares and merchandise not in such exempted categories; provided, further, the Mayor may similarly exempt from payment of the license fee, but not from registering with him or the Police Chief, persons working without compensation and selling goods, wares or merchandise for the sole benefit of any nonprofit corporation. All persons shall apply for and obtain a license, issued to him in his name under the provisions of this article, prior to any such person engaging in canvassing or soliciting or otherwise engaging in transient retail business or noncommercial canvassing within the Borough of Verona. The license fee hereby imposed pursuant to this article shall be applicable to every such individual license.

§ 168-3 Application for license.

Every person desiring a license under this article shall first make application to the Mayor or the Chief of Police for such license. If such person shall also be required to obtain a license from any state or county officer, he shall, when making such application, exhibit a valid license from such state or county officer. The applicant shall state:

His criminal record, if any.

The name and address of the person by whom he is employed.

The type of goods, wares and merchandise he wishes to deal with in such transient retail business.

The length of time for which license is to be issued.

The type and license number of the vehicle to be used, if any.

The name and physical description of the applicant.

The home address and local address of the applicant and, in the case of transient merchants, the local address from which proposed sales will be made.

A recent photograph of the applicant, which picture shall be approximately two inches by two inches, showing the head and shoulders of the applicant in a clear and distinguishing manner.

The applicant's fingerprints upon a noncriminal file card which can be reclaimed upon the expiration of the license.

Some form of identification, to include, but not be limited to, a social security card, driver's license, registration or passport.

§ 168-4 Issuance of license; custody, display or exhibit.

Upon receipt of such application and the prescribed fee, if applicable, the Mayor or the Chief of Police, if he shall find such application in order, shall issue a license required. Such license shall contain the information required to be given on the application thereof. Every license holder shall carry such license upon his person if engaged in transient retail business or noncommercial canvassing from house to house or upon any of the streets, alleys, sidewalks or public grounds or shall display such license at the location where he shall engage in such business if doing so at a fixed location. The license holder shall exhibit such license, upon request, to all police officers, Borough officials and citizens or residents of the Borough.

§ 168-5 Prohibited acts.

Any noncommercial canvasser shall not be permitted to canvass or solicit on Sundays, state or federal holidays or before 9:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, prevailing Eastern standard time.

Any commercial canvasser shall not be permitted to canvass or solicit on Sundays, state or federal holidays or before 9:00 a.m. or after 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturdays, prevailing Eastern standard time.

No person engaged in any transient retail business or noncommercial canvassing shall:

(1)

Sell any product or type of product not mentioned in his license.

(2)

Hawk or cry his wares upon any of the streets, alleys, sidewalks or public grounds within the Borough.

(3)

When operating from a vehicle, stop or park such vehicle upon any of the streets or alleys in the Borough for longer than necessary in order to sell therefrom to persons residing in the immediate vicinity.

(4)

Park any vehicle upon any of the streets or alleys in the Borough for the purpose of sorting, rearranging or cleaning any of his goods, wares or merchandise or of disposing of any carton, wrapping material or of any stock or wares or foodstuffs which have become unsalable through handling, age or otherwise.

(5)

Engage in any business activity prohibited by any federal, state or local law, ordinance or resolution applicable thereto.

(6)

Engage in any canvassing, soliciting or business activity with any owners or occupants thereof of a residential dwelling or any owners, agents or employees of a business, the address of which has been listed upon an official list of owners or occupants thereof that have requested that no transient retail merchant or noncommercial canvasser enter upon their premises or business for the purposes of soliciting, taking orders or having any contact with said owners or occupants whatsoever. Said official list shall be kept on file with the Borough Secretary, and every applicant for a license issued pursuant to this article shall be provided with a copy of said list upon receiving said license.

§ 168-6 Supervision; records and reports.

The Chief of Police and the Mayor shall supervise the activities of all persons holding licenses under this article and shall keep records of all licenses issued hereunder and shall make a report thereof each month to the Borough Council.

§ 168-7 Suspension and revocation of license; appeal.

The Mayor is hereby authorized to suspend or revoke any license issued under this article when he deems such suspension or revocation to be beneficial to the public health, safety or morals; for violation of any provision of this article; or for giving false information upon any application for a license hereunder. Appeals from any suspension or revocation may be made to the Council at any time within 10 days after such suspension or revocation. No part of a license fee shall be refunded to any person whose license shall have been suspended or revoked.

§ 168-8 Violations and penalties.

Any person violating any provision of this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 and costs of prosecution or, in default of payment of such fine and costs, to undergo imprisonment for not more than 30 days, provided that each violation of any provision of this article and each day the same is continued shall be deemed a separate offense.

§ 168-9 Bond required.

Every applicant for the license required who is not a resident of the County of Allegheny or who, being such resident, represents a firm whose principal place of business is located outside the state shall file with the Mayor or Chief of Police a surety bond, payable to the Borough of Verona, in the amount of $200 if the license is issued for less than six months and $500 if the license is issued for six months or longer, with a surety acceptable to and approved by the Mayor or Chief of Police, conditioned on the applicant's full compliance with all the provisions of this article and any applicable federal, state or local laws in regulating peddlers, canvassers, solicitors or transient retail merchants, as the case may be, and guaranteeing to any resident of the Borough of Verona that all moneys paid as down payment will be accounted for and applied according to representations of the licensee and further guaranteeing to any such resident doing business with such licensee that the property or object purchased will be delivered according to the representations of the licensee. An action on such bond may be brought by the person aggrieved and for whose benefit, among others, the bond is given, but the surety may, by paying pursuant to an order of court the face amount of the bond to the Clerk of Court in which suit is commenced, be relieved without costs of all further liability. A noncommercial canvasser shall be exempt from the requirements of this section.

§ 168-10 Loud noises and speaking devices.

No licensee under the provisions of this article, nor any person in his behalf, shall shout, cry out, blow a horn, ring a bell or use any sound or amplifying device upon any of the streets, alleys, parks or other public places of the Borough of Verona, or upon private premises, whereby sound of sufficient volume is emitted or produced therefrom to be capable of being plainly heard upon the streets, avenues, alleys, parks or other public places, for the purpose of attracting attention to any goods, wares or merchandise which such licensee proposes to sell.

Article II Close-Out and Fire Sales

[Adopted 10-13-1987 by Ord. No. 7-1987 (Ch. XIII, Part 9, of the 1976 Code of Ordinances)]

§ 168-11 License required.

It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, association, firm or corporation to advertise or hold out by any means that the sale of any goods, wares or merchandise is a "closing-out sale," "a sale of goods damaged by fire, smoke or water" or a "defunct business sale" unless a license is first obtained to conduct such a sale from the Borough Secretary's office of the Borough of Verona.

§ 168-12 Regulations.

The application procedures, enforcement, investigation and penalties for this licensing requirement shall be those regulations required by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as set forth in Act 217 of 1963, as amended (53 P.S. § 4471-1 et seq.).

§ 168-13 Enforcement.

The Borough Secretary's office of the Borough of Verona shall administer and enforce the licensing requirements of this article.