If a 10-year-old cares enough about the process to testify at hearings, I don't believe she should be fined. That lesson would be exactly the wrong one.

She must be required to conform to public safety regulations that apply to her business, the same as any other person who has a small business. Cuteness and youth don't provide immunity from that.

Building a business means learning to deal with regulation and safety concerns as well as customer demand and paying bills to suppliers. The small small-business owner has made the effort to play fair, insofar as her youth will allow. Her municipal government needs to see how they can accommodate her unique service without compromising public safety, and the young lady should be allowed to consult in the process that she, by her testimony, has started.

An acceptable solution will demonstrate that: the Council is sensitive and responsive to citizen requests; involvement in government, even by young citizens, yields a body of law friendlier to the citizens; and the law is a serious thing that can't be ignored by or for one citizen because that citizen is adorable.