Yorktown changes ordinance after ACLU case

YORKTOWN – A lawsuit over door-to-door solicitation regulations has cost Yorktown around $90,000, and ultimately resulted in the town's ordinance being changed anyway.

The case, filed by the Indiana Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Citizens Action Coalition in March 2013, challenged the town's fees and regulations for door-to-door canvassers.

The plaintiffs said the issue was one of free speech, ACLU and CAC representatives told The Star Press. They argued the cost and Yorktown's rule limiting knocking on doors to daylight hours impeded the nonprofit group's efforts to canvass and solicit donations.

Yorktown had boosted the fees it charged out-of-town solicitors, professional fundraisers, peddlers and "non-commercial door-to-door advocates" from $10 for licensing and $5 a week during canvassing, to $150 for licensing and $50 a week for each person going door to door.

A similar lawsuit was filed at the same time against the city of Jeffersonville, which amended its ordinance enough that the lawsuit against it was dropped.

Yorktown later amended its solicitor fees policy in response to the suit, clarifying the fee would apply to people selling things, not those soliciting for donations like the CAC, a nonprofit group that focuses its lobbying, canvassing, community organizing and litigation efforts on issues related to utilities, health care and the environment. Town officials changed the time limit's wording somewhat, but not enough to keep the case from proceeding.

In October 2014, the U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana granted a motion for summary judgment by the Citizens Action Coalition, and banned Yorktown from enforcing the ordinance that allowed solicitors "until dusk."

The town was ordered to pay $62,000 by the court, and additional fees and costs raised the total to almost $90,000. The payout by the town was handled in the January Yorktown Town Council meeting.

This month, Town Manager Pete Olson introduced Ordinance 729, an update to the town's Solicitors and Peddlers ordinance, to bring Yorktown into compliance with the approved verbiage and practice from the ACLU lawsuit.

The new wording in the ordinance clarifies legal solicitation hours are between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Town officials said that if town residents don't want solicitors, they should put up a sign, as it is still illegal to solicit at a residence that has a no solicitation sign posted.

Several audience members at the March meeting were taken aback by the amount of money that the town was fined for during the case. That reaction was also expressed by council member Rick Glaub.

"It was obviously an expensive mistake," said Glaub, who said he had reservations about fighting the CAC in the first place.

Council member Bob Ratchford, who was president at the time of the lawsuit, reminded the public that the actions taken by the town were on the recommendation of both the town's legal advisers, town manager and police chief when the issue first arose.

Star Press planning editor Robin Gibson contributed to this report.