After more than an hour of discussion on the matter at its regular meeting Thursday, the Ironton City Council came a little closer to establishing an ordinance to regulate vendors during special events.

At issue is a request from civic organization Friends of Ironton to charge a fee to vendors who set up shop in town during special events like Rally on the River.

Representatives from the Friends have argued that it costs the organization a substantial amount of money to host the Rally and that many vendors set up outside the Friends parameters and don’t contribute funds to the organization. The funds raised during special events goes into projects like the Splash Park and Ro-Na restoration that ultimately benefit the city, the organization has argued.

During the meeting a draft of the proposed law change was distributed to council members, who looked over it line by line and made changes.

The draft of the ordinance states that during any special event authorized by the City of Ironton, the hosting organization for the event shall set the fees for the vendors who set up on any property owned by the City of Ironton during such events. The vendor will pay the fees to the hosting ordinance, according to the draft ordinance.

On private property, vendors must obtain a vendors permit from the city of Ironton for a fee of $1,500 and otherwise comply with zoning regulations. Vendors do not include established businesses. Permits will be sold at the city’s finance department. The ordinance will be enforced by the Ironton Police Department, according to the draft ordinance. Vendors will be required to display their vendor’s permit in plain view during the event.

More changes may be made to the ordinance before it is given first reading. A committee meeting has been called for Monday to discuss this ordinance and other items.

The council backed away from including regulations to established businesses doing sidewalk sales, though it had been discussed at an earlier committee meeting.

“I think it’s a good idea,” council chairman Kevin Waldo said of the ordinance. “I think (Friends of Ironton) needs protection on the effort that they put in and the money that they spend. The bottom line is almost every dime that they make comes back to the city in benefits and money.

“That’s a great thing but I also want to make sure that we protect the people that have a business from 1990 to whenever everyday and I don’t want to step on their toes,” Waldo said.

The Friends chair Rick Jansen said later that the organization’s intent has never been to penalize established businesses.

Friends intentionally chose to limit the number of food and other vendors who come to its special events to drive business to local establishments, Jansen said.

“The spirit of working as a community has always been shown on our behalf for the past seven years and it’s no longer in balance, I think,” he said.

Another question raised at the meeting was whether Frog Town owner Mark Rutledge would be considered a vendor if he leases the Dayton Malleable property, which is owned by the city, during the Rally to allow people to camp there. Rutledge has been renting the space to do that every year but one since Rally started, he said.

Friends member Rick McKnight argued that he should be considered a vendor because Rutledge would ultimately benefit from having campers there.

“That property’s been up there for 51 weeks, why does everyone want to rent it during Rally on the River?” he said. “It’s got to be to profit somebody.

“We go out and bust our butt and put our money up and everyone else’s money up to get these people to town and then we’re getting ripped off basically,” McKnight said. “We don’t put this on for $20 a piece. You’re talking about a $100,000 or sometimes $200,000 we’ve got to invest to get all these people to town…I feel if you don’t give us the property up there for camping you’re just slapping us in the face for all we do.”

Rutledge said Friday that most of his campers are from the Ironton area. He does not charge them because they already pay city taxes, he said.

If council passes the ordinance, Rutledge would have to pay a permit fee to the Friends of Ironton in order to lease the Dayton Malleable property, he said. The Friends could charge what they want to lease the property, Rutledge said.

Both the Friends of Ironton and Rutledge have said the city promised them the camping site during the Rally.

Dave Smith, who is on the Friends of Ironton board, said the organization members were surprised at the scope of the proposed ordinance, which would essentially allow them to control fees for all city property during their special events. The issue is about more than the campsite, Smith said.

The Friends board has not discussed the issue, Smith said, but if the ordinance passes the organization will likely approach Rutledge with the opportunity to lease the camping space for a fee, he said.

Smith said the ultimate goal of the proposed ordinance is to protect the Friends from having transient vendors come to town and not contribute to the event.

“It was progressively being more and more of a problem,” Smith said Friday. “(The ordinance) is kind of more of a protection thing with the city… All our money goes back to the city.”

Rutledge also expressed concerns about the ordinance’s role in other special events. The way it reads, the Ironton Catholic Schools could have to pay a fee to the Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade Committee to have its annual Charity Fair, which it hosts annually during the holiday weekend, Rutledge said.

Also in question was the way that law enforcement officers would enforce the ordinance on private property.

Police Chief Jim Carey asked what his department should do with vendors who refuse to shut down after being asked to because they did not purchase a permit. The police department does not normally put people in jail for misdemeanor offenses, he said. However if the transient vendors are only cited, they may continue to do business and then not show for a court date, Carey said.

The discussion of the ordinance will continue in a committee meeting at 6 p.m. Monday in the fish bowl of the Ironton City Center.

• Heard from resident Pete Russell who talked about crime in his neighborhood on North Fourth Street. Several people have been robbed lately, he said. Russell asked that lights be put up in an alley, where he says a vehicle regularly travels at night with its lights off. Mayor Rich Blankenship said he would ask AEP about getting more lights in the alley.

Police chief Jim Carey said officers had made a couple of drug arrests in the area lately.

• Passed an ordinance authorizing Blankenship to award a bid for the purchase of radio equipment for the fire department to F&L Electronics Inc. The bid is not to exceed $40,986. The equipment was paid for with a FEMA grant.

• Passed an ordinance authorizing the mayor to award a contract for disposal of municipal solid waste to Rumpke Waste. The contract will be a one-year term for the fixed rate of $33 per ton of waste disposed.

• Passed an ordinance adopting rules and regulations for the city’s Splash Park.

• Passed an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute a collective bargaining agreement between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council. The contract will be until March of 2014.

• Passed an ordinance amending the city’s annual operating budget for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2011. The change would re-appropriate $16,000 in the city’s budget to cover offices supplies, utilities and fuel, Finance Director Kristen Martin said Monday.

The city originally cut back in these areas to make sure there would be enough in the general fund.

“Now that we see that the revenue can support it, we’re short in maintenance and utility and fuel of course because of the gas prices and office supplies,” Martin said. She added that the office supplies includes postage.

• Tabled an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with E.L. Robinson Engineering regarding the Ironton Manhole Rehabilitation Project. The project will be discussed during the public utilities committee meeting 6 p.m. Monday.

• Passed a resolution authorizing the submission of the City of Ironton fiscal year 2011 community development block grant formula application.

• Passed a resolution fixing the number and compensation of certain employees of the city. The salaries will be the same as last year with no raises and the same benefits as last year, Martin said Monday.