Gardening companies must have a business license, said City Treasurer Mike Reynolds, but individual employees are not necessarily licensed. Furthermore, as Redlands is a general law city, licenses are only for revenue, not for regulation, Reynolds said. A license grants a company or individual the right to do business in Redlands, whether that be responsibly or not. In other words, there is no way to enforce good business practices, council member Pat Gilbreath pointed out.

The committee asked that the city pursue the idea of enforcing tighter restrictions on business licenses for gardeners. Doing so would allow the city to educate both homeowners and gardeners alike, the staff report said.

The council agreed, unanimously approving the development of tighter restrictions for gardening business licenses.