Iola’s ordinances regarding transient vendor licenses came under the spotlight once again Monday.
City Council members heard from 12-year-old Charley Kerr, a sixth-grader at Iola Middle School.
Kerr, standing with her father, Matt Kerr, said she was operating a lemonade stand last spring at Iola’s Harvest Baptist Church parking lot, when she was paid a visit by Iola police officers.
But instead of a request for a glass of lemonade, the officers came with an order for Kerr to shut down her stand, because she didn’t have a vendor’s permit.
“I see lemonade stands all over during the summer and they don’t get shut down,” Kerr told Council members, adding she’s even seen photos of police officers stopping by other similar stands.
“Do you think it’s right?” she asked.
The debate has swept up both Kerr and her father, who live just outside Iola’s city limits, and thus must pay $400 annually for such a vendor’s license, compared to the $30 license fee for those who either live or have a business inside Iola’s city limits. (More on that later.)
Matt Kerr owns Roco’s, also a portable food trailer.
“You can pick on me,” Matt Kerr added. “But to pick on my kid?”
Matt Kerr said his daughter rarely turns much of a profit with her lemonade sales, instead using the venture as a way to benefit the church, as well as St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
If she’s lucky, her entire year’s sales might cover the $400 vendor’s fee, Matt Kerr said.
Their argument resonated with Councilman Jon Wells. “I was wanting to be done with this issue, and now I don’t want to be done with this issue.”
He noted the intent of the vendor’s license fees was something of a balancing act, to allow food truck vendors an opportunity to operate, while also preventing those same vendors from having an unfair advantage over local restaurants.
“I don’t like the principle of shutting down lemonade stands,” Wells said. “I don’t think that’s the intent of our law.”
THE FOCUS shifted to the second part of the Kerrs’ argument.
They live about three miles outside of Iola’s city limits, and have a 66749 ZIP code.
Further, Matt Kerr owns several rental houses in Iola, and pays Iola property taxes.
