Food truck argument continues

Despite pushback from restaurant owners, the Creston City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to establish the first reading of an updated ordinance that would lower fees for visiting food trucks.

Current prices for a peddler’s license are $50 for a day, $150 for a week, $500 for six months and $1,000 for a year. The proposed changed fees are $20 for a day, $60 for a week and $200 for six months, with no option given for a year.

During both the public forum and a public hearing regarding the ordinance, Ordinance No. 23-09, area restaurant owners shared their displeasure.

“Local restaurants in COVID have not have the income they once did. Lousy economy, high food prices have taken its toll on businesses. People don’t go out like they used to for a lot of reasons,” said John Kawa. “When Creston has an event, more people, we hope, come to town. This is a chance for local restaurants, tax-paying restaurants, to have a good day. If the council believes food trucks are an asset to the events and community, make them pay their fair share.”

Allan Shaffer, owner of the Creston Dairy Queen, agreed with this sentiment.

“I think they should pay their fair share,” Shaffer said. “$1,000 is kind of a bargain and $20 a day is kind of an insult. We’re underselling Creston. Creston has a lot of opportunities. At any given time, we have to be stewards of those opportunities.”

Shaffer shared a recent conversation with Mayor Gabe Carroll regarding the food truck discussion.

“When I talked to the mayor, he said our fees are higher than other communities,” Carroll said. “I think our opportunities are better. I say that from my own business. When my late wife and I opened Dairy Queen in 1986, the whole of southwest Iowa had Dairy Queens. Osceola had a Dairy Queen, Chariton had one, Red Oak, Clarinda, Shenandoah, and they’re all gone. We have a customer base here. One of the things is, we have great customers. If we say, gosh, we have to give this away because we can’t get people to come here, then I suggest there’s something wrong with your model or your tactic because Creston’s a better town than that. Don’t undersell this town.”

Tom Spencer, owner of Spencer’s Chophouse and Tavern, also was against the proposed ordinance.

“Have they already contacted the city clerk and gotten an ok? Do we know that they have a current food special license when they come here? These are things that we all have to abide by with a brick and mortar outfits,” Spencer said. “I’m not against food trucks. Between the events that you have, I think they’re wonderful to bring them in, but I do feel that they need to pay a fee.”

After hearing from the public, the counsel started their own discussion.

“I’m still going to beat the drum for a year,” said councilmember Richard Madison. “I think it would be ridiculous to have someone buy on April 1 and it runs out in six months, because they can go basically April 1 to November whatever, so I think we should leave it at a year and just be done with it. It’s not that big of a deal.”

Carroll shared some of his own research.

“Just because this has been brought up a couple of different times by a few different people, I did look up some of the different restaurants around town and what they pay for property taxes, Carroll said. “When we look at that, I also separate out the city portion of those taxes, because the part that the city can control, and at a restaurant like S and K, their city portion of their taxes for the last year of operation was $269 for the whole year. If there was any brick and mortar business that was the size of a food truck, I believe it’s S and K, and I think this would be entirely in line with that.”

Councilmember Matt Levine said some of the reasons this ordinance has been brought up involved the city’s issues with getting food trucks to come to town and the pricing of other area towns.

A vote regarding the first reading of the change in ordinance had councilmembers Levine, Jocelyn Blazek, Kiki Scarberry and Brenda Lyell-Keate in favor. Madison, Josh Thomson and Steve Wintermute voted against.