The city’s denial of North Star BBQ’s mobile food vendor permit sparked a conversation about bureaucracy and accessibility in early September. Of 171 respondents to an online leader poll issued this month, more than 30 percent answered that they didn’t know enough about the policies to decide whether the licensing process should be changed.

A public hearing on North Star BBQ owner Peter Neubauer’s challenge of the permit denial is set for 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and the vendor previously said the policies were unclear to him when he reportedly operated the food cart in city limits prior to seeing the process through.

According to City Administrator Matt Jaunich, while some residents may find it arbitrary, the ordinance was meant to regulate and sometimes even protect mobile food vendors in city limits. It initially served as a response to a hot dog vendor that had begun operating in town while food carts and trucks rose in popularity in 2013.

Aside from requiring permits, the ordinance sets limits on where carts and trucks can operate, defines carts and trucks and requires vendors to have insurance.

Acquiring a city permit first requires a state license to sell food. The would-be vendor must then submit the license to the city for review, complete a paper application process and a background check.

“We want to make sure that people getting the permit are who they say they are,” Jaunich said. “We’ve had past instances of people (who had been charged with fraud or theft).”

The vendor must also have insurance and name the city as an additional insured for liability in the amounts of at least $50,000 for the injury or death of one person, $100,000 for the injury or death of two or more and $10,000 for property damage.

“We want to make sure vendors are insured,” Jaunich said. “Our current businesses are properly protected. … You’ll be surprised at the things the city can get sued for. (For example), a vendor is operating in a city parking lot, someone backs into it and someone gets hurt. It’s also to ensure they have proper protection and nobody is left out in the cold.”

Restrictions for operating include being within 100 feet of a restaurant without the business’s written consent, within 500 feet of any event except if authorized by the event sponsor, on public property or adjacent parking lots where a concession stand is operating, within four feet of a curb or roadway and within five feet of crosswalks, access ramps or handicap parking spaces.

“Without the ordinance, essentially, you can have a cart open in front of a burger place,” Jaunich said. “We want to put up some restrictions and have some respect for existing operations in town.”

Vendors must prominently display their state and city licenses and have a waste receptacle nearby, according to the ordinance. The cart or truck cannot occupy more than two parking spaces at once. Various other restrictions include a ban on smoking within 15 feet of the cart or vehicle, a ban on the sale of alcohol and mandatory compliance with police orders. Violating any rules is punishable as a misdemeanor with a $123.99 penalty and a license revocation.