Kalona City Council met June 18. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

The Kalona City Council approved a vendor ordinance for those wishing to participate in RAGBRAI.

The city council waived the second and third readings of the ordinance, which is noted for special events with a large influx of people to be enforced besides just for RAGBRAI. City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh says RAGBRAI officials were consulted in crafting the ordinance, “So we’ve talked numerous times on this, the goal of this is just to solidify that there is some mechanism in place that we’re able to recoup some of the upfront expenditures that we would have through vendor fees, so this just allows us a bit of an enforcement mechanism on that.”

The ordinance states the vendor fee for a booth is $300 for for-profit organizations or businesses and $200 for non-profit organizations. Schlabaugh said that if someone seeks to benefit financially from RAGBRAI, even if they are on private property they still have to pay the $200 or $300 fee. He also said that if a restaurant that doesn’t usually serve food outside that intends to do so during RAGBRAI they also have to pay a vendor fee. According to the ordinance, any person or entity issued a vendor permit shall comply with the Iowa Department of Health and any county department of health rules and regulations pertaining to the sale and dispensing of food. Those selling food or merchandise without a booth permit are a considered a nuisance and emergency abatement may be executed by a peace officer unless the person immediately purchases a permit with cash only.