[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of West Mifflin as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Junk, secondhand and antique dealers — See Ch. 158.
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 246.
Mercantile tax — See Ch. 260, Art. IV.
[Adopted 6-1-1976 by Ord. No. 796 (Ch. 13, Part 3, of the 1999 Code of Ordinances)]
A. 
The following words and phrases, as used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
BOROUGH
The area within the corporate limits of the Borough of West Mifflin.
FISCAL YEAR
The year commencing with July 1, 1976, and ending at 12:00 midnight on June 30, 1977, and from there on shall mean the twelve-month period from July 1 through June 30.
LICENSE YEAR
The fiscal year beginning July 1, 1976, and ending at 12:00 midnight on June 30, 1977, and from there on shall mean the twelve-month period from July 1 through June 30.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, limited partnership, association, corporation, trust or estate. Whenever used in any section prescribing and imposing a penalty, the term "person," as applied to associations or partnerships, shall mean the members or partners thereof, and, as applied to corporations, the officers thereof.
RESTAURANT OR OTHER PLACE WHERE FOOD AND DRINK OR REFRESHMENTS ARE SOLD
Includes such facilities of nonprofit corporations and/or beneficial associations which are deemed or considered to be services under either statutory or case law, or any other such facility which is exempted by law.
RETAIL DEALER or RETAIL VENDOR
Any person who is a dealer in or vendor of goods, wares, and merchandise who is not a wholesale dealer or vendor, whether or not such vending or dealing is the primary business activity.
SECRETARY
The Borough Secretary of the Borough of West Mifflin.
TEMPORARY, SEASONAL OR ITINERANT BUSINESS
Any business that is conducted for a limited period of time.
WHOLESALE DEALER or WHOLESALE VENDOR
Any person who sells to dealers in or vendors of goods, wares and merchandise and any merchant and to no other person, whether or not such rending or dealing is the primary business activity of such person.
B. 
The terms "person," "wholesale dealer," "wholesale vendor," "retail dealer," and "retail vendor" shall not include agencies of the government of the United States or of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any persons vending or disposing of articles of his own growth, production or manufacture.
C. 
The singular shall include the plural, and the masculine shall include the feminine and the neuter.
For the license year beginning on July 1, 1976, and ending June 30, 1977, and continuing thereafter from the license year beginning July 1, 1977, and ending at 12:00 midnight on June 30, 1978, and thereafter continuing year to year on a license-year basis, a mercantile license fee for general revenue purposes is hereby imposed by the Borough of West Mifflin in the manner and rate hereinafter set forth.
[Amended 4-10-1988 by Ord. No. 939; 9-6-1994 by Ord. No. 1029; 3-16-1999 by Ord. No. 1094]
A. 
Every person desiring to continue to engage in, or hereafter to begin to engage in, the business or occupation of wholesale or retail vendor or dealer in goods, wares and merchandise and any person conducting a restaurant or other place where food, drink or refreshments are sold, whether or not the same is incidental to some other business or occupation, and whether such person engaging in the business or occupation of wholesale or retail vendor or dealer in goods, wares and merchandise or conducting a restaurant or other place where food, drink or refreshments are sold is stationary or transitory, within the corporate limits of the Borough of West Mifflin shall, on or before the 31st day of July 1976, and annually thereafter, and prior to commencing business in any license year, procure a mercantile license for his place of business, transitory facility or occupation in the Borough, or, if more than one, for each place of business, transitory facility, or occupation in the Borough, from the Secretary of the Borough of West Mifflin, who shall issue the same upon payment of the fees as established from time to time by resolution of Borough Council.
B. 
Each person engaged in the aforesaid occupation who has more than one place of business within the Borough of West Mifflin shall procure from the Secretary of the Borough of West Mifflin the aforesaid mercantile license required for each place of business or each transitory facility, and the Secretary of the Borough of West Mifflin shall issue the same upon the payment of an additional fee for each license procured at the rate set forth above for the license fee.
C. 
Such license shall be conspicuously posted at the place of business, or each of the places of business, or transitory facility of every such person at all times. Such license shall be renewed each license year, and the Secretary shall reissue the proper mercantile license upon payment of the fee as set forth above.
[Amended 3-16-1999 by Ord. No. 1094]
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement or whoever fails or refuses to procure a mercantile license when so required under this article or fails to keep his license conspicuously posted at his place of business or transitory facility as required herein shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600, plus costs, and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to a term of imprisonment not to exceed 30 days. Each day that a violation of this article continues shall constitute a separate offense.
A. 
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to empower the Borough to levy and collect the fees hereby imposed on any person or any business or any portion of any business not within the taxing power or police power of the Borough of West Mifflin under the Constitution of the United States and the laws and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B. 
The provisions of this article shall not apply to nonprofit corporations or associations organized for religious, charitable, or educational purposes, agencies of the government of the United States, or any person whose rates and services are fixed and regulated by the Public Utilities Commission.
[Adopted 12-20-1988 by Ord. No. 953 (Ch. 13, Part 2, of the 1999 Code of Ordinances)]
[Amended 12-21-1999 by Ord. No. 1102]
The following words and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
BOROUGH
The area within the corporate limits of the Borough of West Mifflin.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, limited partnership, association, trust or estate, or any other legal entity. Whenever used in any section prescribing and imposing a penalty, the term "person," as applied to associations or partnerships, shall mean the member or partners thereof, and, as applied to corporations, the officers thereof. The term "person" shall not include nonprofit corporations or associations organized for religious, charitable, or educational purposes or any political subdivision or governmental agency.
TEMPORARY, SEASONAL OR ITINERANT BUSINESS
Any business that is conducted upon a realty site situate in the Borough of West Mifflin for a period less than 60 days, or any business which hawks, hucksters, sells or peddles goods, merchandise or produce or solicits orders for goods or merchandise from house to house or on the streets, roads, alleys, highways or rights-of-way within the Borough or sells goods and merchandise from wagons, motor trucks, or any other vehicles within the Borough of West Mifflin; any door-to-door solicitations or solicitors of any kind seeking donations of goods, services or money and/or support for causes or positions.
From and after the passage of this article, it shall be unlawful for any person to continue to conduct or thereafter to begin to conduct a temporary, seasonal or itinerant business or to hawk or peddle, sell or offer to sell or solicit orders within the Borough of West Mifflin as a traveling merchant or peddler or to set up a stand or display on any realty to conduct the business for less than a period of 60 days, unless a temporary permit has been secured, for each location, site, truck or wagon, from the Ordinance Officer and Building Inspector's office of the Borough of West Mifflin.
[Amended 10-18-1994 by Ord. No. 1035; 3-16-1999 by Ord. No. 1094]
A. 
Each permit shall be granted for a specific period of time, in intervals of two weeks, four weeks, six weeks or eight weeks, the fees to be paid prior to issuing said permit, and the fees to be paid for the different time intervals shall be established from time to time by resolution of Borough Council.
B. 
Any person requiring a permit for longer than an eight-week period shall reapply for an additional permit based on the two-, four-, six- or eight-week interval period and shall pay the additional fees established for the said interval as established from time to time by resolution of Borough Council.
The Building Inspector's office shall, prior to issuing the permit, require all applicants to give information and data deemed necessary, which shall include:
A. 
The name of the applicant;
B. 
The owner of the business making the application;
C. 
The type of business;
D. 
The address and telephone number of the business and owner, and, if a corporation or association, the name, address and telephone number of an officer of the corporation;
E. 
The location of the site and/or the type of vehicle and license plate number to be utilized in the business;
F. 
The name, address and social security number of each employee to be utilized on each site or within each vehicle.
[Amended 3-16-1999 by Ord. No. 1094]
A. 
It shall be the duty of the Building Inspector's office, or the Police Department, to inspect each site and each display or stand, immediately upon erection of such site or display, to determine if the site interferes with or obstructs the view of persons traveling upon such streets, highways, alleys or thoroughfares or impedes the flow of vehicle and foot traffic in such area. The stand or display shall not be permitted to be erected in such a way as to interfere with or obstruct the view of persons traveling upon any such street, highway, alley or thoroughfare or impede the flow of traffic of vehicles or pedestrians upon any street, highway, alley or thoroughfare.
B. 
It shall be the duty of the Building Inspector's office or the Police Department to view the site as often as necessary and at least once a week during the life of the permit in order to make certain that the aforesaid display or stand is not altered in such a way as to threaten the safety of the traveling public.
C. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to erect a stand or display in such a way that it shall interfere with or obstruct the view of any pedestrian or motorist upon any street, highway, alley or thoroughfare or impede the flow of traffic, whether pedestrian or motorized, on any street, alley or thoroughfare, sidewalk or any right-of-way. The Police Department shall also, from time to time, inspect any truck, wagon or any other vehicle used for selling from door to door for compliance with equipment standards of the Vehicle Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 101 et seq.
[Amended 12-21-1999 by Ord. No. 1102]
A. 
Issuance of a permit shall not be construed to allow any stand or display to be erected in any public street, alley, highway, thoroughfare, sidewalk or right-of-way. No person, whether the Borough has the power to license the same or not, shall have any exclusive right to any location in the public streets or rights-of-way or shall be permitted a stationary location thereon, nor shall any person be permitted to operate in a congested area where such operations might impede or inconvenience the public use of such streets or sidewalks.
B. 
No person or persons receiving a permit under this article shall conduct door-to-door solicitations of residential properties, except during the following periods of time:
(1) 
November 1 through and including March 31: 9:00 a.m., prevailing time, to 5:30 p.m., prevailing time.
(2) 
April 1 through and including October 31: 9:00 a.m., prevailing time, to 7:00 p.m., prevailing time.
(3) 
No person or persons shall be permitted to conduct any door-to-door solicitations of residential properties on any Sunday or on any holiday.
This permit, together with the payment of the fee, is required in addition to any other permit, license, or fee mandated by the Borough of West Mifflin.
Where a stand or display is to be established or erected on private property, all applicants for such permit shall present to the Building Inspector's office a written lease or written permission from said owner of the realty permitting such use, prior to the issuance of a permit.
All fees required under this article shall be made payable to the Borough of West Mifflin and shall be placed into the general fund.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to empower the Borough to collect a permit fee from any person or any business or any portion of any business not within the taxing powers or the policing powers of the Borough of West Mifflin under the Constitution of the United States and the laws and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[Amended 3-16-1999 by Ord. No. 1094]
Whoever makes a false or untrue statement in his application or who shall commence business without securing this required permit or who shall erect or use a stand or display in such a way as to impede, obstruct or interfere with the view of any person traveling upon any street, highway, sidewalk, street, road, or thoroughfare or obstruct the flow of any pedestrian or vehicle traffic upon any street, highway, road, alley or thoroughfare or sidewalk shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600, plus costs, and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to a term of imprisonment not to exceed 30 days.