The paved area across from Fred's Dollar Store in
McKenzie was declared a Farmer's Market Thursday
following a Planning Commission recommendation to
declare the area off limits to other merchandise.
Local growers of produce from Carroll, Weakley and
Henry counties will be allowed to sell without permit
while those buying produce for resale must purchase a
business license or transient (temporary) vendor's
permit.
Complicating the issue was the city's unpublished
decision to begin July 1 enforcing ordinances
requiring that vendors purchase either a business
license or a transient vendor's permit to sell
merchandise other than homegrown fruits and
vegetables. During the days before the Thursday
meeting, vendors of all types were notified to
purchase licenses or permits to sell in the area
Thursday designated as a Farmer's Market, and during
the latter part of the week vendors other than those
selling produce still inhabited the region.
Planning Commission co-chair Deborah Turner presented
the recommendation to the council, stating the
original intent of the commission was to create a
place farmers and gardeners could sell excess produce
and where other vendors in competition with local
merchants would be excluded.
"That was our hope and it's for you to decide the
particulars and even whether to have one," she
concluded. The idea was conceived by planning
commissioner Larry Web during a time when vendors were
not being required to pay sales tax or purchase
permits. Turner referred to the vendors as
"opportunists of a sort", referring to tennis shoe
sales and other itinerant enterprises in direct
competition with merchants paying taxes as well as
overhead costs.
"I think it's an excellent idea," stated Vice Mayor
Gene Hale. Councilman Willie Huffman made the motion
that the Farmer's Market be instituted as presented
with growers from outside the tri-counties and those
re-selling produce required to obtain permit. Mayor
Walter Winchester advised Amish milk sales would
continue as owners had purchased a permit. Locals
selling canned goods and other products made from
homegrown produce will also be allowed to sell without
permit.
Ms. Evelyn Trevathan protested visits to vendors
earlier in the week by police officers informing them
as to the need for permits. She further stated vendors
at the Farmer's Market at Camden were furnished
canopies and buildings.
Stating she had been approached by a gentleman selling
Obion County Flippin's peaches and fried pies to "come
to the meeting and do some talking", she said, "When
they load up and come up and expect to stay there all
day it gives a bad name for our town... They were
really dumbfounded by it and didn't know anything like
this was going on."
Winchester clarified that, to his knowledge, no one
had been asked by police officers to leave and that
business licenses and/or transient vendor permits were
being issued in accordance with state law.
Also on hand was Mr. Milton Berry, who sells
watermelons and other produce purchased in Memphis. He
stated he was moving his business rather than purchase
a business license, which costs $20 per year. Persons
buying business licenses must keep track of sales and
are not required to pay additional taxes unless they
sell over $3,000, according to city officials.
Alternatively, vendors may purchase a 14-day transient
vendor's permit at the cost of $20. State law sets the
fee at $50, however, Winchester said the $20 fee,
which includes a $5 recording fee, has been on the
books for several years. City Hall workers advised the
fee has been in force for at least seven years but was
previously issued only for door-to-door book sales.
Winchester said he had also obtained permission for
vendors to set up in the parking lot of the McKenzie
Shopping Plaza on Highland Drive and that, if the area
in front of Fred's became congested, the market could
be moved to that location.
Still uncertain is the venue, if any, for sellers of
merchandise other than produce.
SIDEWALK PROJECT MODIFIED
Only $38,000 is available to fund the College Drive
sidewalk project estimated at $105,000, advised
Winchester, who secured the permission of the council
to negotiate with low bidder Arnco Construction Co. of
Trenton a price for a shorter expanse of construction.
Original plans called for new sidewalks to be
constructed from the front of the theatre on Cedar
Avenue and down College Drive to the approximate
location of the log cabin on Bethel's campus.
