[Adopted 3-21-2013 by Ord. No. O-13-7[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance repealed former Ch. 288,
Solicitation, Commercial, adopted 11-29-2005 by Ord. No. O-05-38,
as amended.
A.
APPLICANT
CANVASSER
EMPLOYEE
GOODS and/or SERVICES
ITINERANT VENDOR or SOLICITOR
LICENSE
PEDDLER or HAWKER
PERSON
SOLICITATION or SOLICIT
Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms shall have
the meanings indicated:
A person or entity seeking to obtain a license for commercial
solicitation.
Any person who travels, either by foot or automobile or any
other type of conveyance, from place to place, from house to house
or from street to street to seek or develop support for, to conduct
market research about, to determine feelings or opinions about, to
conduct a survey about, or explain a position about and on behalf
of any commercial product, cause or organization.
Any individual receiving compensation, in any form whatsoever,
from an entity for engaging in solicitation within the Township.
Includes but is not limited to food (including but not limited
to ice cream, refreshments and farm products), magazines and periodicals,
advertisements, commercial handbills, personal property, coupons,
products, merchandise, wares, orders or contracts for a service, home
improvement or alterations.
Any person who travels, either by foot or automobile or any
other type of conveyance, from place to place, from house to house
or from street to street taking or attempting to take orders for the
sale of goods of any nature whatsoever for future delivery or for
services to be furnished or performed in the future, whether or not
such person has, carries or exposes for sale a sample of the object
to be sold, and whether he/she is collecting advance payments on such
sales; but shall not include wholesalers calling on retail merchants.
A license for commercial solicitation issued by the Township
of Freehold pursuant to the provisions of this article.
Any person who travels, either by foot or automobile or any
other type of conveyance, from place to place, from house to house
or from street to street, carrying, conveying or transporting goods
for the purpose of selling and delivering them to prospective customers.
Not only an individual, but also any organization, firm,
partnership, corporation, company, association, church, religious
denomination, society, class, league or other entity or group.
To go in or upon the streets, roads, and semiprivate and
private property in the Township of Freehold without having been invited
to do so by the owner or occupant of the property, for the purpose
of advertising, promoting or selling any products, goods or services
or conducting market research or a market or opinion survey regarding
commercial goods or services. Solicitors shall include but shall not
be limited to itinerant vendors, peddlers, hawkers and canvassers
of commercial products or services. Solicitation shall include the
placement upon private property of handbills or other written material
advertising goods or services for sale. Solicitation shall also include
the sale of goods or services which the solicitor promises to donate
or deliver to a charitable or other nonprofit institution on behalf
of the purchaser.
B.
Word usage. For the purpose of this article, words and phrases shall
be interpreted as follows:
(1)
Words used in the present tense shall include the future tense;
(2)
Words used in the singular include the plural, and conversely words
in the plural include the singular;
(3)
The word "shall" is mandatory and not discretionary; and
(4)
Use of the masculine gender shall include the feminine gender.
Except as otherwise provided in § 288-3 below, it shall be unlawful for any person to solicit, sell or dispose of or to offer to sell or dispose of any goods, or to solicit orders for the performance of any service or to engage in commercial canvassing within the corporate limits of the Township of Freehold without first obtaining a license therefor in compliance with the provisions of this article. Such license shall not be transferable from the person to whom issued to any other person. A separate license shall be obtained by each solicitor, itinerant vendor, hawker, peddler or canvasser for every agent or employee working for him/her.
The requirements of this article shall not apply to the following:
A.
Any person honorably discharged from the military service who has
a license under N.J.S.A. 45:24-9 et seq.
B.
Any person who is an exempt firefighter of a volunteer fire department,
as defined by N.J.S.A. 45:24-9 and 45:24-10, possessing a license
in conformity with said law.
C.
Any public utility or its employees, which said utility is subject
to regulation by the State Board of Public Utility Commissioners;
provided, however, that such employee shall display the identification
badge or card issued by his/her employer.
D.
Any person engaged in the delivery of goods, wares or merchandise
or other articles or things in the regular course of business to the
premises of persons who had ordered the same or were entitled to receive
the same by reason of a prior agreement.
E.
Any individual engaged in the delivery of newspapers published in
the state.
F.
Commercial travelers or selling agents calling upon commercial establishments
in the usual course of business.
B.
Each applicant for a license shall secure through a private agency a criminal history background check, conducted not more than 14 days prior to the filing of the application. Such criminal history background check must be submitted (as part of the application) directly from the private agency to the Chief of Police. The criminal history background check shall be in sufficient detail and scope to reveal any criminal history recorded with the State Bureau of Identification or with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to allow the Chief of Police to reach an informed decision as required by § 288-5A(2) below.
A.
The investigation required under § 195-3 shall be limited to that sufficient for the Chief of Police or his designee to make a determination that:
(1)
The issuance of a license is in accordance with the provisions of § 288-3 above and N.J.S.A. 45:17A-18 et seq.; and
(2)
The applicant has not been convicted of any criminal offense or a
violation of a municipal ordinance relating adversely to the registrant's
fitness to perform activities regulated by this article, including
those involving violence or the threat of violence.
B.
For the purpose of this section, a plea of guilty, nolo contendere
or any other similar disposition of alleged criminal activity shall
be deemed a violation.
The license fee payable under this article shall be provided in Chapter 150, Fees, for each license and shall be paid at the time the application is submitted. The license fee is nonrefundable.
Solicitation shall take place within the Township only between
the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays.
Each individual and/or member of any organization permitted
to conduct solicitations shall attach and display, on the front outer
layer of his/her clothing, a badge to be supplied by the Township.
The badges shall be lettered and delivered by the Clerk and shall
be uniform in style and design. The following information shall be
printed on the badge:
A.
Name of the solicitor;
B.
Name and address of the organization on whose behalf the solicitation
is made. The municipal and state address of the organization shall
be the most conspicuous writing on the badge and shall be at least
twice as large as any other printed matter contained on the badge;
C.
Expiration date of the license;
D.
A statement that the Township of Freehold has licensed the solicitation
but neither approves nor disapproves of the organization and/or its
activities.
E.
Photograph of solicitor.
Every individual issued a license under this article shall conduct
himself/herself according to the following code of conduct:
A.
He/she shall not enter or remain upon any resident's property that is on the "Do Not Solicit" List (See Article III of this chapter.) or upon which it is posted that solicitors are not permitted, or notice of similar content.
C.
He/she shall not enter or attempt to enter any dwelling unit without
express invitation from the occupant therein.
D.
He/she shall immediately leave the resident's property upon
request by the resident to do so.
E.
He/she shall not leave, on or about the resident's property,
any circular, samples or other matter or material unless same is handed
to an occupant of the property.
F.
He/she shall not indicate that the Township endorses or sponsors
any of the views expressed or the organization for which support of
contribution is sought.
G.
He/she shall not make false claims, misrepresentations or materially
incorrect statements concerning the solicitation, organizations represented
or the use to be made of the amount solicited.
H.
He/she shall not engage in any course of alarming conduct or conduct
himself/herself so as to reasonably alarm or annoy the occupant of
the dwelling.
I.
He/she shall not engage in any conduct which is prohibited by any
statute, regulation or ordinance in effect in the Township of Freehold.
K.
He/she shall have a complete copy of this article in his/her possession
at all times.
L.
He/she shall be wearing a reflective vest and carrying a functioning
flashlight at dusk or later.
A.
No individual shall go upon any property or create any sound in a
manner calculated to attract the attention of any occupant of a residence
on which is posted a sign expressly prohibiting such activity.
B.
No individual shall enter a roadway for the purpose of approaching
occupants of motor vehicles using the roadway or approach such occupants;
have any exclusive right to any location; operate or conduct any of
his/her business from a fixed location; or be permitted to operate
in any congested area where his/her operations might impede or inconvenience
the public. For the purposes of this section, the judgment of a police
officer, exercised in good faith, shall be deemed presumptive as to
whether the area is congested or the public impeded or inconvenienced.
As used herein, a licensee shall be deemed to be operating from a
fixed location if he/she has been in the same location, or one within
200 feet in any direction of the location, or remains on the same
lot for more than 30 consecutive minutes.
C.
No individual shall solicit any goods or services, including but
not limited to food, ice cream and soft drinks, within 1,000 feet
of any commercial establishment or machine selling, vending or dispensing
the same or substantially similar goods or services.
D.
No individual shall solicit any goods or services, including but
not limited to food, ice cream and soft drinks, in any municipal park
or other place of recreation or cultural activity or upon any public
street or right-of-way adjacent to such municipal park or place of
recreational or cultural activity.
Whenever any individual or organization shall be limiting its proposed solicitation activity to a particular shopping center, as defined in § 190-3, all approvals for such proposed solicitation shall be received from the shopping center management. Such person or organization seeking to solicit shall make application to the shopping center management for permission to solicit. If the shopping center management approves of the proposed solicitation, it shall have the applicant complete an application form provided to the shopping center management by the Township Clerk's office. The shopping center management shall then forward the completed application to the Township Clerk, together with notification of the dates and times during which the solicitation shall take place. The duration, coordination and timing of any such solicitation(s) shall be at the discretion of the shopping center management. Upon receipt of a solicitation application approved by the shopping center management, the Township Clerk's office shall notify the Township's Code Enforcement Department and Police Department of the solicitation activity which has been approved at the particular center.
Any person receiving money or any other thing for a value of
$1 or more from any contributor under a solicitation made pursuant
to this article shall give to the contributor a written receipt signed
by the solicitor showing the date and the amount received, provided
that this section shall not apply to any contribution collected by
means of a closed box or receptacle used in solicitation where the
use thereof has been approved by the Township in accordance with this
article where it is impractical to determine the amount of each contribution.
Copies of such receipts shall be kept and available for inspection
upon the request of a police officer.
It shall be the duty of any police officer of the Township of
Freehold or the Code Enforcement Officer to enforce the provisions
of this article.
In addition to license revocation as set forth in § 195-9, any person, organization or agent thereof found guilty of violating any provision of this article shall, upon conviction, be subject to the penalties provided in Chapter 1, Article II, General Penalty, unless the penalty prescribed for such conduct by state statute is less, in which case the lesser penalties shall apply.
