Othello City Council raises fee, fines for garage sales

OTHELLO — If you’re going to hold a garage sale in the city of Othello, remember to get a permit.

Our it could cost you. A lot.

The Othello City Council on Monday voted unanimously to raise the fee for garage sale permits to $5, from $3. But more importantly, the council also imposed a fine “of not less than $110” for violating any of the city rules governing garage sales.

“One hundred and ten dollars is a lot of money,” said Council Member Corey Everett.

In addition, the city will no longer give a warning for the first offense, and will simply impose a fine.

“There is no more warning,” said Mayor Shawn Logan.

City Clerk Rebecca Perez-Ozuna told the council that the fee for a garage sale permit had not been updated since the ordinance was first enacted in 1985.

While a couple of members of the city council wondered whether the $110 fine was appropriate for a first offense, one member reminded the council that the state’s fine for littering on the highways is $500.

“The first person who gets it I guarantee it won’t happen again,” said City Council Member John Lallas, who expressed some doubts about the size of the fine. “It’s a very stiff penalty.”

The original fine for violating the garage sale ordinance was $100, but Perez-Ozuna said the city does not have any other $100 fines, while the C-12 civil infraction on the city’s books is $110.

The city’s garage sale ordinance limits each Othello resident to three garage sales per year, states that signs “may not be posted to any public structures, signs or traffic-control devices, nor to any utility poles” and must be removed within 24 hours of the end of a garage sale, can only be open between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and may only sell used goods owned by “the persons conducting the sales, and of a type and quantity customarily and usually found within a residential setting.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.