Missouri Valley residents air concerns on peddlers, treatment of volunteers
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
Missouri Valley residents raised concerns about door-to-door salespeople working without permits and about how city leadership treats volunteers during public comment at the City Council’s Oct. 6 meeting at the Rand Community Center. A park board member also sought the city’s backing for a playground art project.
Mary Jo Buckley, owner of M.J.’s Flowers & Balloons, told the council about salespeople without peddler’s permits. “I just had a guy come to my shop the other day, and I asked him if he had a peddler’s permit,” she said. “This is the second time we’ve been around there selling some kind of cleaning stuff. And he goes, ‘We’re just doing refills this time and stuff.’ And he says, ‘I don’t have to get one the second time I come around.’”
“I talked to Turri earlier, and she said they’re supposed to show us something when they come,” Buckley said. “Before I’ve had them come and ... I go, ‘Do you have a permit?’ And they go, ‘No, where do you get one?’ I said, ‘City Hall.’ And they head that way instead of that way.”
“Well, this guy apparently had a bunch of kids out roaming the streets too, because somebody ... had it pulled up on their ... Ring camera, and the guy was trying to go in their house,” Buckley said. “Their son happened to see it on their Ring door camera and asked the guy what he was doing, and he took off.”
“And the other night we had one that was banging on my front door. My husband answered the door, and he had a little kid with him, and he was trying to get shingling jobs,” she said. “I think it’s going to end up being more and more lately with the economy and stuff.”
Buckley asked who to call when a seller has no permit. “I would say call the police. And have them try to locate them,” said City Administrator Turri Colglazier.
“They vary. So the permits are issued, like, in a time period,” Colglazier said of permit costs. “So if they’re just going to be in town for a few days, it’s less ... But they should always have the permit with them, and everybody should always ask for the permit. And if they don’t have one and it’s not expired, they can come back to City Hall and get another copy of it.”
Buckley asked, “This guy would have to get a copy for all these people he’s got roaming the streets underneath of him, right?” Colglazier replied, “Right.”
Council member Chris Gilpin asked Police Chief Lee Lange whether police would handle those calls. “Yeah, they would call us and we would round them up,” Lange said. “Make sure they got their permit or send them off.”
Tina Thornburg, a park board volunteer, said she was repeatedly interrupted while presenting the board’s minutes at the council’s Sept. 15 meeting. “I’m here tonight to address a concerning issue regarding how the city leadership treats community volunteers,” she said. “At the meeting on Sept. 15, I stood here to present the official park board minutes.”
She said she faced a “continuous wave of interruptions” instead of a routine update. “I was repeatedly cut off and asked the exact same questions over and over,” Thornburg said. “I really feel that that is highly condescending, patronizing, chauvinistic.”
Thornburg was appointed to the park board in June. At the Sept. 15 meeting, she presented a park board proposal to plant prickly bushes as a safety barrier at Summit Park, which the council did not approve.
“We’re volunteers. Volunteers dedicate hundreds of hours to improve our community for free. When we step up, we expect basic professional courtesy and respect,” she said. “When we are badgered with communication tactics during a public meeting ... We’re not all professional speakers ... It’s not acceptable.”
“It creates a toxic environment for the current volunteers and discourages future civic engagement. I ask that you guys review its codes of conduct to ensure all members treat volunteers and the public with professional respect,” Thornburg said. “We deserve to be listened to, not talked down to.”
Mayor Roger Marshall thanked her, and the council moved to its consent agenda without further comment.
Earlier in public comment, park board member Amy Buchanan asked the city to sponsor a grant application. “As you may be aware, last year our park board members used grant money from Keep Iowa Beautiful to paint the 19 concrete cement blocks white that are surrounding the playground in the park,” she said.
“That successful effort was just the start of an overall project we have in mind, and we would like the city’s blessing tonight to apply for the Dean J. King Family Foundation grant to officially complete it,” Buchanan said. “Our vision is to transform these 19 plain white safety blocks into a vibrant, interactive public art installation designed to look like a real freight train surrounding the playground.”
“The first block is to be painted as a locomotive engine, the last as a caboose, and the other ones painted as flatbed trucks, each carrying a letter to spell out Missouri Valley. And the spare ones will be used to paint the school mascots on the other blank blocks,” she said.
Buchanan said the group is requesting $2,650 from the foundation to cover paint, supplies and stencils. “The art teacher at the high school, Marie, is going to be assisting me in managing this project,” she said.
“I love the idea,” Marshall said. “We have no problem. You just need us to advertise the city as the sponsor?”
“Yes, that’s the part I’m here for, is we need a fiscal sponsor for this project ... ’cause we’re part of the city,” Buchanan said.
“That was my ask, is like, we don’t need a vote for this, but we can sponsor it, right?” Gilpin said. “Sounds like we’re all in favor of it,” Marshall said. Buchanan said the application is “due in a couple weeks, so I got to hurry up on this.”
