Politics & Government

Criminal Background Checks for Ice Cream Truck Workers Fails Again

The Melrose Board of Aldermen voted against the proposal for the second time in eight months.

A resurrected ordinance that would require criminal background checks of ice cream truck drivers that are licensed by the quietly died on Monday night.

The Melrose Board of Aldermen had previously , citing potential legal and logistical problems with ordinance based on the opinions of Rob Van Campen, Melrose city solicitor, and Ruth Clay,  Melrose Health Department director. The Melrose Board of Health issue permits for ice cream trucks to operate in the city in the form of a mobile food permit.

In addition to requiring ice cream truck vendors to submit Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) background checks to the city, the proposed ordinance would have put restrictions on when and where "mobile food vendors" could operate, which Ward 6 Alderman Peter Mortimer—who filed the original proposal—previously said intended to protect brick-and-mortar Melrose businesses selling ice cream from facing unfair competition from ice cream trucks.

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Mortimer brought back a slightly reworked version in April that included alternatives to conducting criminal background checks, including the option of the city paying $30 for a CORI that's available to the general public for people who were convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for five or more years or is presently or was recently in prison, incarcerated under a sentence, or under probation or on parole.

Also, earlier this month the board voted to remove the operation restrictions from the proposal, before sending the proposal back to committee.

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In the past two weeks, both the aldermen's Protection and License committee and Legal and Legislative Matters committee moved the proposal along without discussion and without any recommendation.

On Monday, the full board voted 3-7 against the proposal. In brief remarks before the vote, Mortimer reiterated alternative options for obtaining the criminal background checks, and Ward 2 Alderman Monica Medeiros reiterated her concern that "mobile food vendor," as defined in the existing city ordinances and in Mortimer's proposal, could apply to anything from pizza delivery to Meals on Wheels.

In April, Clay did tell the board that her department has begun requiring ice cream truck operators to submit copies of the driver's license of anyone who will be working on the truck along with their mobile food permit application.


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