Politics & Government

Resale Ordinance Gets a Redo

After a letter from a local business owner, village officials will revisit a new law that puts restrictions on local secondhand shops.

It's a rare feat to reverse the wheels of government once they've turned.

However, thanks to a letter from a local business owner, village officials are reconsidering a newly passed ordinance that put new restrictions on the resale of items to secondhand stores. 

, the Village Board passed a law as part of its unanimous consent agenda that created new requirements for the sale and purchase of preowned merchandise. Under the ordinance, resale shops would need to keep detailed records and spreadsheets on the customers and items being sold to the store. Purchased goods could not be sold for 14 days, and stores could not buy items from customers younger than 18.

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John Carroll, the franchise owner of , a used sporting goods store on LaGrange Road, wrote a letter to Mayor Jim Holland, Village Administrator Jerry Ducay and Police Chief John Burica explaining that the requirements under the new ordinance would cause an undo hardship on his business. 

"If forced to comply with the new ordinance, we know that our store will be unable to comply with its sweeping and overreaching requirements," Carroll wrote. "The enforcement of this ordinance will, at the minimum, force us out of Frankfort or potentially out of business all together.

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"While we appreciate the need for some type of pawnbroker-secondhand dealer law, we feel that stores such as ours should be excluded from this type of legislation."

In particular, Carroll objected to the following parts of the ordinance:

  • Holding items for 14 days before selling them, which would cut back on sales during high-traffic seasons.
  • Reporting newly purchased items to the police by noon the next day. 
  • Taking photos of the merchandise, as well as photocopies of customers' drivers licenses. 

"I thought it a bit of an overreach to ask for a driver's license for someone who was buying a $3 pair of soccer shoes," he said in a recent phone interview.

Carroll said he understood the spirit of the law--to crack down on people selling stolen merchandise to local resale shops--but his business doesn't usually deal in the type of items that fall into that category, such as jewelry and electronics. He also said that there are many other lucrative outlets for thieves to pass along stolen goods, like garage sales and the Internet, that go unregulated.

"We're not melting down treadmills or anything," he said.

After receiving the letter, Mayor Holland visited Carroll at his store to talk about his issues with the law.

"I was very pleased the mayor took the time out of his day, but I wish someone would’ve been in contact before hand," said Carroll, who added that he had only spoken to a police department representative about the ordinance before it was passed. 

Speaking at the March 8 board meeting, Holland said that some of Carroll's objections stemmed from a "misunderstanding on how the law is applied." But he still asked for the ordinance to be put on the agenda of a future Land Use and Policy Committee meeting so that it could be rewritten. The next Land Use and Policy Committee is April 13.

"That's what we should do to correct this issue," Holland said. "In the meantime, we should not enforce this law."

Trustee Todd Morgan supported the decision at the meeting, using it as an example of how business and government can work together on legislation.

"We're not trying to punish our businesses (with this law), but vandals and people who come in and transfer this stolen merchandise readily."

Carroll said he will be working with Play It Again Sports corporate offices to draft a proposal for how the ordinance could be changed so it doesn't harm his or other Frankfort businesses unfairly.

"I just wish someone had a better understanding of our business before crafting the law."


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