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![handle is hein.sag/sagia0010 and id is 1 raw text is: CITIES: Municipal home rule; Regulation of transient merchants; county fair.
Iowa Code §§ 9C.2, 174.3, 174.4 (2005). Iowa Code chapter 174 vests exclusive
control over the fairground with the officers of the fair. A city cannot enforce a
local ordinance governing transient merchants on a fairground at any time.
(Moline to Saur, Fayette County Attorney, 4-20-06) #06-4-1
April 20, 2006
W. Wayne Saur
Fayette County Attorney
120 East Charles Street
Oelwein, Iowa 50662
Dear Mr. Saur:
You have requested an opinion from this office addressing whether Chapter
122 of West Union City Code, governing transient merchants, can be enforced as
to persons, organizations and events on the fairgrounds at times other than during
the annual fair. Iowa Code chapter 174 vests exclusive control over the fairground
with the officers of the fair. Therefore, we must conclude that a city cannot
enforce a local ordinance governing transient merchants on a fairground at any
time.
Analysis of this issue requires examination of the interrelationship between
the home rule authority of Iowa cities, the statutes regulating transient merchants
and the statutes governing county fairs. Cities are granted home rule power and
authority, not inconsistent with the laws of the General Assembly, to determine
their local affairs and government. Iowa Const. art. III, § 38A. Iowa Code chapter
364 sets forth the powers and duties of cities. The statute essentially mirrors the
municipal home rule amendment, providing that[a] city may, except as expressly
limited by the Constitution, and if not inconsistent with the laws of the general
assembly, exercise any power and perform any function it deems appropriate to
protect and preserve the rights, privileges, and property of the city or of its
residents, and to preserve and improve the peace, safety, health, welfare, comfort,
and convenience of its residents... Iowa Code § 364.1 (2005); see also Iowa Code
§ 364.2(2) (2005) ([a] city may exercise its general powers subject only to
limitations expressly imposed by a state or city law).
Iowa Code chapter 9C provides for the licensing of transient merchants by
the secretary of state. This chapter explicitly recognizes the power of cities to
regulate transient merchants by making it unlawful for a transient merchant to sell](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagia0010&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)