By ERIC C. RODENBERG
Antique Week Associate Editor HAZEL, Ky. — “Today,” this small town “boasts over a dozen antique stores and shopping malls, representing several hundred dealers. This community is once again alive, vibrant and bustling.”
That, according to city officials, is the profile of Hazel, a town of about 400 residents on the Kentucky–Tennessee border in western Kentucky. The town, once a booming railroad hub throughout the early 20th century, “found new life in something it was quite familiar with – antiquities,” according to the town’s website. By the city’s own calculations, the town has been able to survive on antiques and free enterprise.
But, some business owners would beg to differ. On March 8, the town’s city council voted to proceed with its interpretation of an ordinance, requiring licenses of all vendors of merchandise within town limits, to include antique dealers renting mall booths.
The ordinance has met resistance in the past from some mall owners and booth renters. However, after a lawsuit was filed in 2008 against the city, officials chose not to enforce the law.
“We have now been advised to go ahead with the enforcement,” Mayor Kerry Vasseur said. “We are sending letters out to all vendors – those we know who do not have licenses – asking for compliance … we welcome the lawsuit, maybe it will give some clarity to the ordinance.”
Right now, any antique dealer who fails to purchase a license will be forced to discontinue business, Vasseur said.
The cost of a license to sell merchandise within the town of Hazel is $25 per year. That money goes into a general fund.
The town currently operates on an annual budget of about $55,000, according to Vasseur, and that additional money is needed.
However, Ray Gough – the owner of Charlie’s Antique Mall and Soda Fountain – in filing his 2008 lawsuit against the city maintains it is not the vendor fee which is at issue.
“It’s principle, principle, principle,” Gough said. “I don’t feel that I have to turn over my database of renters to the town. I’ve been operating for 16 years, and I’ve never had to do this before … once the information is filed with the city, it becomes public record – anyone, and that’s any competing interest, or anyone can come and look at who I’m renting space to … I just don’t think it’s right.
It’s just another one of those things – government interference – that can lead to all kinds of other things.”
Gough maintains he is not against paying a licensing fee; just that it’s not his vendors’ responsibility to do the same.
Other town antique business owners are not sympathetic to Gough’s cause.
“He’s breaking the law, it’s plain and simple,” said Mildred Wheeler, owner of Horse’s Mouth Antique Mall on Main Street. “He knew when he came here what he had to do. The law’s on the books. You can’t argue with that.”
Wheeler, who has been in the antique business in Hazel for more than 26 years, has no booth renters within her Horse’s Month Antique Mall.
The ordinance, according to Mayor Vasseur, has been on the books for decades. However, it became a controversial issue when the city began to require booth owners to purchase a license. The council revised the ordinance in 2007, after surveying booth renters about using the funds to advertise the city’s antique business.
The majority of vendors responding to the survey indicated they did not want to pay a licensing fee. However, the council then very literally interpreted the law, to include all vendors – including booth renters as Hazel retailers.
From there, the city maintained that those booth renters not purchasing a business license were in violation of the law.
Subsequently, a 2007 revised ordinance required booth renters to purchase and post the city business license at the mall. It also required mall owners to provide a list of renters.
After that, Gough filed a lawsuit.
“The lawsuit is ongoing,” Gough said. “We will be deposing the city officials during the next few months … we’re not backing down.” |
