Minutes - Council - 08/22/2023 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

A roll call vote was performed: Councilmember Musgrove aye Councilmember Riley aye Councilmember Woestehoff aye Councilmember Olson aye Councilmember Specht nay Mayor Kuzma aye Motion carried. 7.02: Winkelman Solicitor License City Administrator Hagen reviewed the Staff report concerning the Game Fair event and the required Peddlers, Solicitors and Transient Merchants licenses for anyone looking to sell items outside of the Game Fair event. He discussed Mr. Winkelman’s request to come before the Council in regard to his license. Councilmember Specht asked about the rationale for Council approval of these licenses. City Administrator Hagen explained that this is how it is laid out in the City Code. He noted that the Staff’s responsibility is to follow the Code and procedures that are adopted by the Council. Acting Mayor Riley added that this may be a discussion that the Council would like to have in the future. Tammy Winkelman, 5900 75th Avenue Southeast, St. Cloud, came forward and shared that her and JWT Heavenly Springers are upset and disappointed with the way that Ramsey handled the vendors on private property during this year’s Game Fair event. She shared that they have gotten their vendor's permit for the last 18 years and have also passed all background checks. She added that they always get their permit the week before; however, this year they called the City three days in a row leading up to the event and did not receive a call back until the third afternoon when they were told that they had to have their application in by July 18. She stated that she is not a Ramsey resident so did not see the social media posts and that she does not use email as her main form of communication so also did not see the email that was sent out. She suggested that a letter should have been sent out on Ramsey letterhead that let vendors know that the process has changed. She shared that this was very unfair to them. She asked the City how many vendors actually have been there several years in a row and gotten their permits every year. She stated that they were told different things by different people in the City. She added that she came down to the Game Fair on the days that they were not set up and shared that they witnessed several people selling things stated that they did not have permits nor were they asked to leave. She asked why they were targeted and why there was so much inconsistency in the way that this was handled. John Winkelman, 5900 75th Avenue Southeast, St. Cloud, came forward and added that they were set up the first weekend and they just showed their puppies because they were told that they could City Council / August 22, 2023 Page 7 of 11