Committee Backs Single Fee for Farmers Market Vendors

A single annual farmers market fee for St. Louis County vendors is a favorable solution to , three elected officials said Tuesday. 

The comments came during an executive session of the St. Louis County Council Justice and Health Committee, which includes District 5 Councilman Pat Dolan of Richmond Heights. Attendees included representatives from markets in Clayton, Ellisville and Ferguson. The  did not have a representative at the meeting. 

Dolan and his committee colleagues, District 1 Councilwoman Hazel Erby of University City and District 3 Councilwoman Colleen Wasinger of Town and Country, appear prepared to pursue two courses of action. One would go into effect later this year and another would be enacted for the 2012 market season.

First, Erby said Tuesday that the committee will consider ways to prevent vendors from being charged certain fees unlawfully, a measure that would be enacted as quickly as possible following council approval. Wasinger said the council received a letter from the Missouri Department of Agriculture indicating that state law protects farmers who sell unprepared food products such as eggs and apples from those fees. 

Second, committee members said they would consider ways to develop a tiered permitting system effective starting in the 2012 season that would require market vendors to pay one yearly fee. Vendors would have a permit listing the markets at which they have received authorization to sell. The amount of the fee likely would vary depending on whether the vendor is a farmer; provides free samples; or prepares food at the market and then sells it. 

Deborah Henderson, manager of the Clayton Farmer's Market, recommended that a tiered system further be broken down in the farmer category according to whether the farmer sells produce or foods that must be more carefully monitored for temperature and handling, such as eggs and meat. 

Vendors operating a food truck that already undergoes inspection by the health department would not be assessed a separate fee. 

Market directors have expressed concern that the county's system of two vendor permits—one that must be renewed every two weeks and another that must be obtained seasonally for each market at which a person sells—is burdensome and costly to small-scale farmers. 

Wasinger said the comments she has heard from market representatives indicate the system of obtaining recurring permits "is not efficient at all" and does not provide an additional safety benefit. That's because health inspectors already conduct checks at markets on a regular basis. 

She said the committee requested additional information on farmers markets from the county's health department two weeks ago but "to date, we haven't heard anything yet." 

The current fees "we feel are over-regulation," said Steve Jawor, owner of Great Harvest Bakery in Olivette. The 10-year-old bakery has participated in four county farmers markets for the past eight years. But he said he stopped giving away free samples of bread at the market in 2010 when the health department started requiring a fee for the practice. 

Jawor still gives out free samples at his bakery. He questions why he should have to pay a fee to do so at a market when he pays the health department $350 to inspect his bakery. He said the health department hasn't explained the additional fee to him. 

While a single-fee system would still represent an expense, it would also mean that the health department is not "nickeling and dimeing me to death," Jawor said. 

Henderson, with the Clayton market, said it's her understanding the committee will take the next two weeks to discuss how to move forward and then present a recommendation to the full council for consideration. She said she was pleased with their response, though she was "a little disappointed" that the health department did not have a representative in attendance.