Council amends ordinances to allow itinerant merchant buffer zone during special events
Governing body declines to direct attorney to investigate allegation against member
Gonzales City Council members voted 4-1 to amend two sections of the Code of Ordinances in an effort to create a perimeter where itinerant merchants or street vendors cannot set up and sell their wares in competition with local festivals being held at the same time.
Council members also voted 3-1 with one abstention that there was no need for to give the city attorney direction on researching council’s obligation regarding enforcement of qualifications of office for council members after an allegation was made that one member of the body doesn’t reside in the district that individual represents.
Special events buffer zone
The sections of the Code of Ordinances amended include Chapter 4 regarding Business Regulations and Chapter 6 regarding Health and Sanitation. City staff had been approached by members of the Come and Take It Committee to consider creating an event perimeter during special events which would limit where food vendors, peddlers or other unpermitted vendors could set up while such events are taking place.
A new Section 4.417 in Chapter 4 now states “Itinerant merchants or street vendors may be limited within the area of an approved special event, or within a surrounding area defined as part of the special event permit approval, to those itinerant merchants or street vendors authorized by the special event permit holder. This limitation only applies for the duration of the special event permit.”
A new Section 6.705 (e) Special Event Prohibition now states “An approved Special Event permit may restrict the operation of a MFV (mobile food vendor) within the area designated for the special event, or within a surrounding area defined as part of the special event permit approval, to only those mobile food vendors authorized by the special event permit holder. This limitation only applies for the duration of the special event permit.”
Come and Take It Committee Chair Daisy Scheske Freeman told council members during public comments that when the event first began in the late 1950s having unpermitted vendors setting up outside the event perimeter “was not an issue.”
“The festival started on a small scale, originally just a parade and a few Come and Take It day activities,” Scheske Freeman said. “Over time, it has grown significantly from a one-day event to a three-day celebration. Beverages and dancing were added, followed by a full lineup of live music, a stage, expanded activities and more food and vendor options. Today, the celebration has evolved into a major event with an estimated $1.2 million economic impact to our community.
“As the festival has grown, so too is the need to manage vendors appropriately, to protect both the event and its contributors. This event is more than just a tradition. It's a major fundraiser for our local nonprofits. The commercial vendors who operate inside the festival grounds help make the event possible by contributing to its success. When outside vendors bypass that system, it undermines both the fundraising efforts and the fairness towards those who do contribute.”
Scheske Freeman also said it is important to protect the downtown restaurants and businesses who invest year round in Gonzales and “provide jobs, generate tax revenue and keep our historic square thriving.”
“Supporting them during our largest event is essential to maintaining the health and strength of our downtown,” she said. “Other cities have already adopted ordinances like this to preserve the integrity of their festivals, and Gonzales should do the same. This ordinance provides a tool to manage vendors during events, protecting festival goers, our local businesses and the nonprofit organizations that benefit from the celebration. While other events may not face this issue, yet, as they grow, they will, and it's important to address it now before it becomes a bigger problem.”
City Secretary Kristina Vega said the amendments being discussed “would only put it in the ordinance to get it on the books, and then each individual special event would have to apply specifically for (the perimeter request).”
“Each event would be specific about whatever their perimeter request would be, and council would have the ability to make that decision if they are okay with that perimeter, and if they're not okay with that perimeter, they could scale it back,” Vega said. “They could make whatever approvals that they wish to do at that time, but that would be with the special event request.
“The way that this is worded, it says that itinerant merchants or street vendors may be limited within an area of an approved special event. There's no guarantee, but they may be limited. There's nothing within this ordinance saying every special event is going to have a buffer or have a perimeter.”
District 4 Councilmember Harold Strom questioned whether any other event besides Come and Take It is being impacted by itinerant peddlers and mobile food vendors setting up, while District 3 Councilmember Lorenzo Hernandez said “Once one of them starts asking, everybody else is going to,
be, ‘Well, it's not fair. You know, they're selling a block away.’ They're going to all be coming
in.”
“You also have the other folks that are not wanting to participate in event, but they have their product
that they want to sell, and they're going to limit them to not sell it,” Hernandez said.
“I understand that, but I also understand that when you put an event on, you put a lot of time and effort into it, so request to be a vendor at that event,” Mayor Isaac Anzaldua said. “You go be a vendor, go get down there and do that. I respect the vendors that come out and put a lot of time and effort and put their money into it as well.
“I think what I look at is if you’re going to be a vendor in it, then you should have that respect to whereas, three blocks, four blocks down the road, someone's doing it without having to pay what you paid. It just doesn't make sense to me. It’s an honest request.”
Hernandez was the lone vote against the measure, while Councilmembers Joseph “Poochy” Kridler, Mariah Jordan and Harold Strom joined Anzaldua in voting for it.
Allegation
Council was asked to give direction to whether they wished to give the city attorney direction on “Council obligations regarding enforcement of qualifications of office for Council Members.”
While the council did not single out any individual member or discuss specifics of what would trigger a need to “enforce qualifications of office for council members,” there has been an allegation made by at least one citizen, former Councilmember Steve Hendershot, that a council member maintains a homestead outside the city limits and claims to live at an address within the city
Hendershot told the Inquirer after the meeting he believes Mariah Jordan owns a home north of Belmont in Gonzales County — some 20 miles away from the address she lists in District 2 on Mesquite Street. He provided a copy of a Gonzales Central Appraisal District record showing a home with homestead exemption being claimed and listed as owned by Breylon D. and Mariah A. Givan on James Garcia Lane.
An online search shows a marriage license was issued in Oklahoma County, Okla., in 2018 to Mariah Ann Hastings and Breylon Deontia Trevant Jordan Givan. Hastings is Jordan’s maiden name.
Hendershot asked to speak during the meeting and was told he could not do so because he had not addressed the council during public comments.
During the meeting, City Attorney Stan Springerley said the state “already has rules in place and procedures for candidates’ eligibility to be addressed under … the elections code.”
“There's very strict procedures to bring those complaints in district court,” Springerley said. “At this point, there's been no adjudication by a court. There's no court order. There's no adjudication of facts. There's just this allegation made. If you want further review regarding the charter definitions and review the case law, that can be done … but presumptively, you know, the state law already has those procedures in place to bring those types of issues before a court.”
Strom said he viewed it as “an individual moral issue.”
“As I read this, I didn't see anything in the rules that said anything about having to become a moral immorality police,” Strom said. “We all know what it is — you play by the rules. If you don't, it's on you. It's on your conscience, between you and your maker.”
Anzaldua said, “Everybody here follows the charter. They were aware of the charter when they signed to run for the office and when they were elected to their office. There was no dispute at that time, at the beginning, nor at the end of the election.”
Kridler, Jordan and Anzaldua voted there was no direction needed to be given to Springerley to pursue any review further regarding “Council obligations regarding enforcement of qualifications of office for Council Members.” Hernandez voted in opposition to them and Strom announced he was abstaining.
Editor's Note: The Edwards Association has not put out a statement either in support of or against the measure and the use of their photo previousy as an illustration for this story should not be construed as an endorsement of any kind by that organization. It was only used to show one of the non-profits which does benefit from having a booth at Come and Take It Celebration.
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