Board addresses ‘aggressive panhandling’

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Aggressive panhandlers may soon face consequences under a new ordinance proposed during Tuesday’s meeting of the Perryville Board of Aldermen.
The new ordinance would make aggressive panhandling a misdemeanor offense carrying a $500 fine, three months jail time, or some combination of the two.
According to Perryville Mayor Ken Baer, the ordinance, which had its first reading Tuesday, is something of a preemptive act for the city.

Ken Baer

“We’re trying to get ahead of the game here and have the legal backing to take any actions we might want to take account of security to secure our city and make our citizens feel safer,” Baer said.
The ordinance draws a distinction between panhandling and charitable organizations seeking donations, defining the former as “solicitation by a person, other than a charitable organization, for an immediate grant of money, goods, or any other form of gratuity from another person when the person making the request is not known to the person who is the subject of the request.”
The term panhandling, the ordinance states does not mean passively standing or sitting with a sign or other indicator that a donation of money, goods, or any other form of gratuity is being sought without any vocal request other than a response to an inquiry by another person.
A charitable organization is defined as any nonprofit community organization; fraternal, benevolent, educational, philanthropic, or service organization; or governmental employee organization which solicits or obtains contributions from the public for charitable purposes or holds any assets solely for charitable purposes.
Baer said the impetus behind the proposed ordinance was the city’s recent rise in homeless persons and some of the complaints that had been received from citizens and was drafted in a similar fashion to ordinances from other cities.
“We are constantly in contact with our peers and our colleagues in other cities around the state,” Baer said, “and that is just kind of a universal problem. We don’t normally reinvent the wheel. This is kind of the model that’s being used across the state.”
“Aggressive panhandling,” which is the target of the ordinance, is defined as approaching or speaking to a person in such a manner as would cause a reasonable person to believe that they are being threatened with imminent bodily injury or “the commission of a criminal act upon the person or another person or upon property  in the person’s immediate possession.”

Further examples include persisting in panhandling after the person solicited has given a negative response; blocking, either individually or as part of a group of persons, the passage of a solicited person; touching a solicited person without the person’s consent; or engaging in conduct that would “reasonably be construed as intended to intimidate, compel, or force a solicited person to make a donation.”
The lengthiest section refers to rendering any service to a motor vehicle “including, but not limited to, any cleaning, washing, protecting, guarding, or repairing of said vehicle or any portion thereof without the prior consent of the owner, operator, or occupant of such vehicle,” then demanding payment.
Last year, the board addressed concerns from citizens about homeless people by updating an ordinance aimed at this “transient” population. The ordinance then on the books featured outdated language that essentially described being homeless as a crime.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as of January 2018, Missouri had an estimated 5,883 people experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care. Of that, 706 were family households, 507 were veterans, 534 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 1,043 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.
“We understand,” Baer said. “We have compassion for them and we try to help them in what we’ve been doing. As long as they don’t pose any threat, our police will contact them, talk to them and offer them any assistance. If they have some family somewhere in another town will actually buy them a bus ticket. So here you go home to your mother. So we’ve been working with those people trying to solve their problems and guide them in the right direction, offer them counseling if they need it and all those sort of things. We’ve been able to actually reduce that population now to single digits by helping hem to find a better path to a successful life.”
Other restrictions on panhandling include a list of locations where it is not allowed,  and makes it unlawful to engage in the act of panhandling before 7 a.m. or after 8 p.m.
The ordinance is scheduled for a second reading and possible approval at the board’s next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 4.
In other business, the board issued tenure awards to several city employees. Casey Hemmann and Christopher Bradford were recognized for five years of service, Brent Buerck and Kathy Forester were recognized for 10 years, Gary Schneier for 15, Garrett Schott and Ryan Worthington for 20 and city gas superintendent Tim Britt was recognized for 35 years of service to the city.
The board also approved several smaller items, including various bookkeeping issues related to ongoing projects, in addition to a request to advertise for proposals for banking services for the City of Perryville and authorize staff to advertise for proposals, along with plans and specifications for the Perryville Boulevard Shared Use Path Project that would extend a 10-foot-wide sidewalk along Perryville Boulevard Rand Avenue to St. Joseph Street.
In addition, the board approved the appointment of Rick Post to the Airport Advisory Board to replace unexpired term of Tim Buchheit.
The board voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the city’s “Prohibited Parking Schedule” to add another no parking area to TG Way in an effort to better protect the primary truck entrance for deliveries at the TG Missouri plant and to ensure better traffic flow and safety around the TG entrance.