Much has transpired since a newly-formed committee held its first meeting to review and amend city Ordinance 1783, which regulates peddlers, solicitors, transient merchants and mobile businesses.
The group met Nov. 29 and will reconvene for a follow-up meeting at 10 a.m. Monday in the second-floor conference room of City Hall.
The committee was created to address complaints and concerns from some downtown business owners about food trucks/carts setting up in the city's Central Business District.
Though the complaints stemmed from downtown El Dorado, Robert Edmonds, director of public works, said the ordinance and any amendments extend citywide.
Following a lengthy discussion, committee members agreed to make several revisions to Ordinance 1783, including:
• Clarifying definitions of peddlers, transient merchants, mobile businesses and semi-permanent businesses and clarifying the applicable city permits, licenses and fees that are required for mobile merchants to operate.
• Adding verbiage that spells out guidelines and standards for fire code safety and inspections, in addition to health and mechanical inspections that are to be conducted by the state and city, respectively.
• Designating two areas within the city as food courts.
• Ensuring that mobile business operators are permitted and have agreements with property owners to set up on private property for long- or short-term leases.
In the days following the committee meeting, one popular mobile business was forced to shut down after an inspection; a beverage cart struck a deal with a downtown property owner for a stationary location; a community-wide debate has raged, with many residents expressing displeasure with a perceived threat to mobile businesses and commerce; and Main Street El Dorado has launched an online survey to solicit feedback from downtown merchants about the presence of food trucks in the area.
Complaints
During an El Dorado City Council meeting on Nov. 4, downtown business owners Bobby Bilo and Greg Harrison aired grievances about mobile businesses in the area.
Their concerns ranged from questions about if some mobile merchants had obtained the applicable city licenses and permits to operate and if the merchants were paying the appropriate taxes; competition with established, brick-and-mortar businesses that sell similar products; sidewalk and curbside parking obstructions; and inappropriately using electrical power.
There were also questions about if Ordinance 1783 applied to food trucks, which are not specifically mentioned in the ordinance.
A discussion ensued about the need to clarify definitions for peddlers, solicitors, transient/itinerant merchants, food trucks and semi-permanent businesses.
At the time, City Attorney Henry Kinslow explained that the ordinance does not apply to food trucks "that stay in a permanent place and (have) a deal with a landowner."
"I mean, that's just another way to have a building," Kinslow said.
Ordinance 1783 defined peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants as "every person, firm, or corporation who goes from one city or town to another, stopping only for a limited period of time in each for the purpose of marketing sales, goods, wares, services, entertainment, food, beverages or anything of value from a motor vehicle, tent, open-air stand, area or table, trailer, concession or other transient portable structure, vehicle or device, not otherwise established or classified as a permanent business."
The ordinance sets limits and fees of $300 for a one- to seven-day operation and $500 for a transient operation that is set up in the city for eight to 30 days.
Operators of transient businesses must present proof of sales tax, health and other applicable permits that are required by the state before a transient merchant permit is issued by the city.
Edmonds revisited the matter during an El Dorado Water and Publio Works Board meeting on Nov. 10 and recommended that the El Dorado City Council convene a committee to study and revise Ordinance 1783.
Among the mobile businesses that have been mentioned throughout the discussions are the Barefoot Food Truck and Four Points Coffee Company.
During the Nov. 4 city council meeting, Bilo, owner of the House of Wylie, said he had checked with the City Collector's office and learned that Barefoot owner/operator did not have permits or licenses from the city.
Melissa Shipp, owner/operator of the Barefoot Food Truck, who also attended the council meeting, said she had obtained the necessary permits and licenses to operate her business in the city, Union County and state of Arkansas and had only recently had heard about Ordinance 1783.
However, during the committee meeting last week, Shipp made statements indicating that she had not purchased the applicable city permits to operate.
She also said that she typically operates once or twice a week, mostly in the parking lot of the Boys and Girls Club of El Dorado and the TAC House -- public property --, and wherever else she is called to set up, noting that local businesses and at least one local school routinely make such requests.
One business that has requested her service is Southern Threads Boutique in downtown El Dorado, Shipp said, adding that she did not initially realize that the business was located in the Union Square District.
Shut down
City Collector Santana Meadows said Bilo contacted her in late September or early October with inquiries about if Shipp, who lives in Parkers Chapel, had the applicable city permits to operate her food trailer in El Dorado city limits.
"I actually reached out to her a few months ago when this was first brought to our attention. I called her, got an email address for her and emailed all of the documents and everything she needed and there was no response," Meadows said.
Meadows said that since Shipp is a Union County resident and Ordinance 1783 does not specifically mention food trucks, Shipp's food trailer is classified as a transient operation in the city and requires a fee of $300 for seven days of operation within the city or $500 for 30 days.
A city business occupation license is required for established businesses within the city, Meadows said.
Food truck committee members pointed to some businesses that are based in wheeled vehicles, such as Owens BBQ and Hachi Hachi, that have agreements with property owners to operate from stationary locations.
Kelly Owens, owner/operator of Owens BBQ and a member of the committee, said he pays a monthly fee to a landowner to set up at the intersection of North Avenue and Grove, the site of a former Hurry Back Food Mart.
Owens also said that he has complied with recommendations that were made during inspections by state and local officials.
A day after the committee meeting, city code enforcement officers Kirby Craig and Santana Parlor inspected Shipp's food trailer.
Craig said the group cited multiple mechanical/building code violations, including plumbing, electrical and ventilation.
"She was cooking with an outside fish cooker, there was no vent-a-hood, no fire suppression system and she was draining water out of the sink into a bucket," Craig said.
Fire Marshal Jason Evans, of the El Dorado Fire Department, was also on the scene.
Fire Chief Chad Mosby said Ordinance 1783 does not include language mandating fire code inspections, noting that while Evans did not conduct an official inspection of the Barefoot food trailer on Nov. 30, he provided Shipp with information about what she needed to do to bring the operation into compliance with national and international fire codes.
"The city ordinance does not address food trucks, specifically. The current Arkansas Fire Code does not address food trucks, specifically, so we have to go to national and international fire codes," Mosby said.
"Typically, when there's an absence of a local code or ordinance, we go to next level where the fire codes are for food trucks," he explained. "We just look at fire code issues. (Code enforcement) looks at mechanical, electrical plumbing and whether they have the proper permits to operate within the city of El Dorado. That's all code enforcement."
During the committee meeting, Mosby said fire codes cover safety as it pertains to ventilation, certifications and operations of fire suppression systems for commercial kitchens -- including extinguishers in the vent-a-hood and kitchen-rated extinguishers -- proper storage for cooking oil, used and new, and setback requirements from other structures.
"As far as the fire department inspection, it would be the same inspection we do for every other commercial kitchen in a normal restaurant," Mosby said. "They don't have the public coming in but we do need to make sure everything within mobile food establishments is safe for the people that are in there."
For now, the city has ordered Shipp to shut down her food trailer.
"She was told she is no longer in business until she brings it up to code. That trailer can't be brought up to code and I told her she would have to get a regular food trailer," Craig said.
Shipp, who recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of Barefoot Food Truck, did not return a message for comment.
Craig said he has been working with City Clerk Heather McVay for the last several years to push the city council to draft a city ordinance pertaining to food trucks.
McVay provided committee members with food truck/mobile business ordinances from other cities across the state.
Four Points
Craig also said the Four Points Coffee Company cart is entering into a deal to operate from the Main Street Plaza in the 200 block of East Main.
Owner/operator Webster Senn confirmed that he and wife Erin are entering into an agreement with property owners Richard and Vertis Mason to set up in the location.
Webster said the coffee cart, which sells specialty coffee beverages, rotates locations and fields requests to set up in downtown El Dorado.
At one point, the cart was located in front of All About Flowers in the 100 block of East Elm, per the request of business owner Rexayn Tribble, who also serves as president of the Downtown Business Association, Senn said.
Tribble messaged the couple in late October and said she had received some complaints about the location of the coffee cart, Senn said, adding that Tribble apologized about the matter.
"She did not say who it was, just that it was some downtown businesses owners complaining," Senn said.
He said the couple then began to regularly rotate the coffee cart throughout downtown El Dorado and some time later, he learned Harrison had inquired about the status of the business's permits and licenses to operate
"The coffee cart is good. He has everything he needs and he has all of his requirements, licenses and permits and has passed all inspections," Meadows said. "And to my knowledge, he didn't start the business until he got a license from me."
In response to an advisory from the El Dorado Fire Department about blocking the sidewalk during a setup in front of a vacant business downtown, the Senns complied and arranged to lease the space in Main Street Plaza.
Another complaint that was raised about Four Points during the food truck committee meeting on Nov. 29 and a regular Main Street El Dorado Board meeting, also held last month, was that the coffee cart cut into the daily revenue take of PJ's Coffee during MusicFest in early October.
Four Points was among multiple vendors that participated in the food court for the festival on Oct. 2.
"As far as setting up for MusicFest goes, we signed up through Main Street (El Dorado) and we were placed with the food trucks on that street by Main Street," Senn said. "We didn't really have an option for the setup of MusicFest."
Main Street El Dorado schedules attractions, vendors and side stages for MusicFest in the area surrounding the Union County Courthouse.
Beth Brumley, executive director of MSE and a member of the food truck committee, said board members have received an earful about the coffee-cart setup during MusicFest and about the general presence of food courts in downtown El Dorado.
Last week, MSE asked downtown merchants to participate in an online survey to share their opinions about the matter.
The DBA announced earlier this year that vendors were invited to set up during First Thursday, in which downtown shops remain open later and offer specials and activities to bring more shoppers downtown.
Brumley was unable to attend the food truck committee meeting on Nov. 29, but she is expected to be present for the follow-up meeting on Monday.
Senn said Four Points wants "to get along" with fellow merchants in the downtown business environment.
Designated food courts
The committee agreed to designate the new Col. Frank Hash Pavilion and the southwest corner of the intersection at Washington Avenue and Locust Street as potential food courts for mobile businesses.
Edmonds said the El Dorado Water Utilities is already planning a major wastewater improvement project in the area of Washington and Locust and the city could add infrastructure for the other utilities that mobile business owners need to operate in the vacant lot that is adjacent to the El Dorado Conference Center.
The Hash pavilion, located behind the TAC House in the area of North West Avenue and Fifth Street, was recently struck by a vehicle, which damaged a steel column, and will undergo repairs.
The pavilion had not yet officially opened to the public when the accident occurred. Edmonds also said a few construction components still need to be completed.
Harrison previously noted that he prepared a petition in 2020 that pointed to space in the Murphy Arts District complex that is available and used for open-air markets, including mobile businesses and farmers' markets.
Several years ago, the city also built a pavilion at the intersection of South Jackson Avenue and East Block Street behind First United Methodist Church to be used for similar purposes.
Parlor said a revision to Ordinance 1783 would clearly spell out the designated food-court locations and transient merchants would be required to have the proper city permits to set up shop within the areas.
The food truck committee plans to take its recommendations to the El Dorado City Council for final approval after it meets Monday.
Edmonds said the group hopes to have a draft ready by the council's next regular meeting Thursday.