Getting a License to Solicit at Bath Homes Now Tougher

Bath Township officials have done away with their door-to-door peddler regulations of more than two decades in favor of more stringent licensing rules created by the Summit County Office of Consumer Affairs.

adopted the county’s application process and licensing regulations for door-to-door solicitors, peddlers and canvassers during their Nov. 21 meeting, but did not do away with the township’s regulations.

"I just want to see how the process works first," Snow had said, adding that he expected to recommend that Summit County eventually take over the process.

During their most-recent meeting, trustees voted to rescind the township’s regulations for peddlers that Snow said were enacted in the late 1980s.

“I had wanted to keep both in place, but the township law director said they were in conflict so we took the (township’s) old transient vendor regulations out,” Snow explained. “It was a housekeeping measure.”

The township’s regulations had required that door-to-door solicitors file an application at the , pay a $25 administrative fee and wait three days before receiving a license.

Under the county’s rules, solicitors age 18 and older must file with the consumer affairs office and undergo a 10-day waiting period. During that time, applicants must be fingerprinted and pay for a criminal background check through the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. That documentation must then be turned in to the consumer affairs office.

The county regulations state that licenses will not be granted to anyone who has been convicted of, or plead guilty to:

• Any offense involving a minor victim
• Any sexually oriented offense
• Corrupting another with drugs, unlawful sale, distribution or trafficking, or the intent to unlawfully sell, distribute or traffic any illegal drug, controlled substance or narcotic within seven years of conviction or guilty plea
• Any assault within seven years of conviction or guilty plea
• Unlawful possession of weapons within five years of conviction or guilty plea
• Any homicide offense

A $35 fee is due to the county’s consumer affairs office upon receipt of the license.

Bath Police Chief Michael McNeely said the switch from township licensing through his department to county licensing “reduces our workload a little bit. We usually have less than a dozen vendors come in (for licenses) per year.”

McNeely said no regulations will prevent national magazine sales companies from dropping vanloads of young adults off in the township to conduct their door-to-door sales, so township officers will continue issuing misdemeanor citations for vending without a license.

“This won’t stop them. They’ll still come in, bring these kids in from all across the country. We’ve cited people from the deep south and other parts of the Midwest,” McNeely said. “Some of the young kids are okay, but we find others have a past history that residents should be concerned about.”

McNeely said township residents “are great about calling in” regarding solicitors so police can investigate. 

“The (peddlers) that would register and pay the fee were never a problem. It’s the other ones that come in, hit the township and leave in a couple days,” he said. “Citizens calling has probably prevented a crime of opportunity.”

The county’s consumer affairs office will notify McNeely by email anytime a solicitor license is issued for Bath Township. McNeely said he will then pass that information on to his staff. No licenses have been issued by the township or county since the new regulations went into effect in late November.

“Typically this time of year we won’t see many door-to-door vendors because of the weather. But when springtime comes around, they’ll be back,” he said.