Manager: City to begin enforcing ordinance

He pointed out that when people apply for the free permit to hold a yard sale they initial in four different places signifying that they understand what they’re reading.

“All of that has to do with where they can and cannot place signs,” he said. “Then they walk out of City Hall and place signs on the public right of way all the way to their home.”

At the council’s work session a week earlier Bryant expressed frustration about people violating city codes by posting yard sale signs along the public rights of way. He asked the council to “think about it” and proposed a $50 permit fee that would be refunded in full to those who do not violate the law.

The item wasn’t on the agenda Monday night, but Molly Labota of Crestwood Village Mobile Home Park brought it up and urged the city to take no action.

“Most people having yard sales are doing it because they need the money,” she said. “Fifty dollars up front would be hard for a lot of them.”

In fact, she said, charging a $50 refundable permit fee would create “more of a boondoggle” for the city in terms of enforcement.

“Having a law on the books hasn’t done anything,” she said. “If there’s a $50 fee, somebody’s going to have to follow up on those people.” She urged the council to “enforce the law that’s on the books now” rather than creating a new law.

Bryant predicted that at the November council meeting “there will probably be people who have gotten tickets.”