Shawano officials loosened rummage sale rules in the city Wednesday, but some hinted more regulations might be needed in the future.
The Shawano Common Council voted 5-1 to double the number of rummage and garage sales that can be held on an individual property in any given year from two to four.
For some officials, their yes vote was an acknowledgement that there are residents who are already holding numerous rummage sales, anyway.
“I believe there are people currently that have four rummage sales,” said Alderman Bob Kurkiewicz, adding that it has apparently not been an issue.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a police report that we’ve had a problem with that,” he said.
Mayor Lorna Marquardt said she had gotten several calls from residents asking why the city restricts the number of such sales.
“I was told by by several people, ‘Every community allows more than three rummage sales, what’s wrong with Shawano?’” Marquardt said.
Officials debating the issue Wednesday were apparently under the impression that the city limits rummage sales to three.
However, a check of the ordinances by City Clerk Karla Duchac on Thursday found that the current limit is two.
Marquardt said she researched similar ordinances in other communities and found many have no limits, but the average for those that do impose a limit is four.
“I don’t think that most people have enough things to sell to warrant four rummage sales in a year,” Marquardt said, “but there are those that are saying, ‘We want to be able sell things on our own property.’”
Alderman John Hoeffs, who cast the sole no vote, said he was concerned additional rummage sales would lead to people bringing in merchandise from other vendors and passing it off as a rummage sale.
“There’s going to be some type of commercialization of this; there always is,” Hoeffs said. “There’s too much coming in from different areas. They couldn’t have that much in their place.”
Alderman Woody Davis supported the increase, but suggested other restrictions might be needed in the future.
The city allows rummage sales to take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for three consecutive days.
Some residents have held their sales on consecutive weekends, leaving their goods outside during the week, Davis said.
“There have been places in my district that simply put tarps over the tops of things and let them go until the following weekend and pull the tarps off and there’s junk all over the place,” he said. “There are several places around the city that I’ve seen that do the same thing.”
Davis said at some point restrictions should be added that merchandise be removed between sales.
“They can’t have them in their yard from one weekend to the next weekend to the next weekend,” he said.