Aldermen Pass Food Truck Rules, Begin Change Process

Livingston Aldermen passed the Food Truck Ordinance on second reading Monday night and then began the process of changing the ordinance.

Aldermen originally agreed to the rules this summer, which placed restrictions on how, when and where trucks could operate. Aldermen voted to expand the time frame of operation to seven days a week. Alderman Bruce Elder said it simply made sense.

“I think it should be opened up all the time,” Elder said. “It’s not a big deal that I see, and I’ve got no problem with opening it up to all the time. But I’m in favor of doing what David (Langford)’s talking about, for them to come in at all the time. I know we probably should have done this at some point in time back. I would like to see everybody have an opportunity to have availability at any time they want to sell anything with a food truck.”

Aldermen David Langford said he also wanted to drop the requirement for additional permitting for food trucks. Langford said if a business had a city and county business permit, that should be enough. City Attorney Andre Greppin told the board if they wanted to make that change, they should vote down the ordinance and revisit the ordinance. Aldermen, instead, went ahead with approval.

The original rules limited operation to two days per week on the first and third weeks of the month. The days and times that food trucks operate is not covered in the ordinance passed Monday night, but rather in a separate area of the city code, Greppin said.

“It’s just a separate law in the municipal code that has to be changed,” Greppin said. “All we’re doing is adding a new section of the municipal code that has all these rules and regulations that talk about food trucks. If we want to change the days that the food trucks are allowed to operate, we have to amend a different section of the town’s law.”

That will be the next step for aldermen, beginning with the January meeting. That change will also need two readings, meaning the date changes would not go into effect until February.

Aldermen also discussed a provision in the rules that allowed food trucks to use city power at Central Park. When the park was built, officials installed power supplies specific to food trucks to curtail noisy generators during concerts. Aldermen clarified Monday that truck operators should only be able to use that power during city events at Central Park.

The ordinance came back up last month following approval earlier this year. Aldermen discussed changes last month, but did not decide to stop the ordinance passage at that point either.