By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–Members of the Helena City Council spent a good portion of time discussing the revision of the current door-to-door sales and soliciting ordinances pertaining to the city at the July 20 pre-council work session.

There are three changes in particular that Helena Councilman Hal Woodman is looking to update to make a new ordinance.

The three potential changes are as follows:

• Limiting the time of solicitation from 9 a.m. to sunset as opposed to the current sunrise to sunset timeframe.
• Making it a violation to knock on the door or ring the doorbell of a residence that has a no soliciting sign on the door.
• Solicitors must have a city-issued ID visible at all times while working as a door-to-door salesperson in Helena.

Helena Mayor Mark Hall said that if a sign is clearly visible that states, “no soliciting,” it would be treated just like a trespassing violation if the homeowner calls to complain.

Police Chief Doug Jones noted that the issuance of IDs would also be helpful to Helena Police when trying to identify if solicitors actually have a permit.

“It would be nice if they have it visibly displayed, that way we know they actually have a permit,” said Jones. “It would give us an idea of how many people we’re dealing with.”

Hall said that the city attorney also feels confident about the new ordinance legally.

“Our attorney says he feels OK about these three new additions,” said Hall. “It’s still possible we can get challenged legally but he feels good about the defense of those.”