Door-to-door salespeople need to get permit: Riley

An incident involving a Holton resident and a representative of a telecommunications company at­tempting to sell services to the resi­dent was the focus of discus­sion at a recent Holton City Com­misssion meeting.

During the commission’s Tues­day, May 19 meeting — held a day later than usual due to severe storms that moved through the area the previous day — commissioners met with Holton resident Jim Rick­etts about a recent incident involv­ing a representative of Brightspeed whom Ricketts said got aggressive with him when he asked the em­ployee for a copy of a solicitor’s permit.

Door-to-door salespersons visit­ing Holton are required to get a so­licitor’s permit or “peddler’s li­cense” from Holton City Hall be­fore engaging in door-to-door sales, Holton City Manager Teresa Riley said, noting that “we’ve had a lot of trouble with the Bright­speed people not getting permits and they’ve been cited quite a few times for trying to solicit without a permit.”

Ricketts told commissioners that in this particular incident, a Bright­speed representative had come to his house on May 5 to “sell stuff,” and Ricketts asked to see his solicit­or’s permit, but was told that his “buddy” had the permit.

“I told him about five times to get off my property,” Ricketts said, adding that in response, the Bright­speed representative said he would “come down here with a trencher.”

The Brightspeed representative later filed a police report, which Holton Police Chief Steve Frederick, who was not present at the May 19 meeting, later con­firmed. Chief Frederick noted that “both parties accused the other of being the aggressor” in the inci­dent, adding that “no charges are pending” on the matter.

Ricketts also asked whether the city could keep a list to share with door-to-door salespersons alerting them to cus­tomers who would prefer not to be approached for sales. He added that he had a “No Soliciting” sign posted near the entrance to his home.

Riley reminded commissioners that according to a city code gener­ally referred to as a “Green River ordinance,” prospective salesper­sons are required to apply for a so­licitor’s permit at Holton City Hall prior to engaging in sales calls. Permit applications are available at City Hall or online at holtonkansas.org/documents under the “administration” tab.

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