Back in September, Sumter City Council passed an amendment that added some verbiage to the city's business license ordinance that provides additional grounds under which a business license could be revoked, denied or suspended.
The ordinance, as it stands today, says that the city has grounds to revoke, deny or suspend a business license if the "licensee has been convicted within the previous 10 years of an offense under a law or ordinance regulating business, a crime involving dishonest conduct or moral turpitude related to a business or a subject of a business, or an unlawful sale of merchandise or prohibited goods, a crime involving dishonesty, or a crime punishable by imprisonment in excess of one year."
During Tuesday's city council meeting, city attorney Danny Crowe explained to the public and council what the purpose of the recent amendment is, which is to protect the public.
Before the amendment was passed in September, the ordinance stated that the city could deny, suspend or revoke a business license if the applicant or licensee had been convicted of a business-related crime within the past 10 years, but now, crimes unrelated to the business could also bar someone from keeping or applying for a business license in the city of Sumter.
"If the public construes a city business license as some kind of vouching or recommendation for a business, we wanted to make the qualifications for a business license better and more likely to protect the public," Crowe said.
He also stressed that any applicant or licensee that is denied a business license, or has one revoked or suspended, has the right to make an appeal to the city. They would be granted a public hearing - not one in which the public could comment, but one which the public can attend - and city council would hear the appeal and decide the outcome.
The city currently has nearly 4,000 active business licenses, Mayor David Merchant noted, and there have been no denials.
So the right for licensees or applicants to appeal denials, revocations or suspensions creates a dotted line and not a hard line, in Crowe's words, for applying for or holding a business license in Sumter. In other words, because the ordinance uses the word "may" instead of "shall" when it says that the "license official may deny a license to an applicant," it still gives room for Sumterites with recent criminal convictions to be approved to operate businesses in city limits.
Councilman James B. Blassingame said that he does not want the business license ordinance to work against Sumterites wanting to better themselves and operate honest businesses amid having a criminal background.
"We on this council, all of us are believers, and we believe in redemption," he said. "We believe in forgiveness and second chances." There are no plans to further amend the business license ordinance.
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