CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The City Council has decided against a proposal that would have allowed for the creation of a no-solicitation database in Clarksville.

At Thursday’s council meeting, the sponsor of the ordinance, Councilperson Brian Zacharias, said he believes the council has been looking at this the wrong way.

“I understand the concern that this is going to overburden our local Police Department,” Zacharias said. “This ordinance is not going to reduce the number of solicitors. … That’s not the intent of this. The city has already said, if you don’t want to be bothered, you can put a sign on your house that says ‘No soliciting.’ I’m just trying to give the people of Clarksville another way to exercise a right and privilege that is already offered to them.”

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Zacharias said the idea is already working in other cities. “This puts no additional burden on the police force than it would if everybody in Clarksville went out and wrote ‘No soliciting’ on a piece of paper and stuck it to their front door,” Zacharias said.

Councilperson Wanda Allen spoke in support of the proposal. Meanwhile, Councilperson Stacey Streetman said she appreciates what the sponsor is trying to accomplish but reiterated some of the same concerns she had last week.

“You stated that there will be no burden on the Police Department, but I know Chief (David) Crockarell sat up here and talked about the burden that would be on them with this,” Streetman said. “For me, I have to listen to what the chief said.”

Crockarell previously said he opposed the database for several reasons. One point he made was that civilians would sign up without once receiving a solicitor, adding thousands of addresses to the database. This would be concerning because the department already responds to about 150,000 incidents a year and is 100 officers short of the number it should have for Clarksville’s size, according to previous reports.

The ordinance failed 10-2 with Zacharias and Allen voting in favor.

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