This chapter shall not apply to:
A. Any person licensed as a junkyard operator, junk dealer or scrap processor under Chapter
66 of this Code; or
B. Any secondhand dealer that is exempt from taxation under § 501(c)(3)
or § 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code; or
C. Garage sales, basement sales, porch sales, yard sales and other such
events at which a person desires to sell or trade his or her personal
used items, household goods, furniture or equipment upon his or her
premises, said premises not being a regular place of business for
purchase or sale of secondhand items, shall be exempted from the license
requirement of this chapter. No more than one such sale shall be conducted
by the same person or persons upon the same premises within one calendar
year, and each such sale shall not exceed three consecutive days;
or
D. Sales conducted for charitable purposes shall be exempted from the
license requirement of this chapter. The determination of whether
a sale is being conducted for a charitable purpose shall be made by
the Chief of Police; or
E. This chapter shall not apply to the return of secondhand items for
credit, exchange or refund to the person from whom said items were
originally obtained, provided that the items were not secondhand items
when originally obtained.
The Fire Chief may cause an inspection of the premises to be
made to determine whether the applicant is in compliance with the
laws and ordinances which the Rochester Fire Department is charged
with enforcing. The Fire Chief and members of his or her staff shall
have the right to enter upon any premises for which a secondhand dealer's
license is sought when the business is open for the purpose of making
such an inspection of areas open to the public, or other areas with
consent, and shall also have the authority to seek warrants where
the same are constitutionally required.
Secondhand dealer licenses shall expire on May 31 of each year
except for licenses issued for the 2012 licensing year, which licenses
will be valid until May 31, 2013.
[Amended 4-24-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-166]
The annual fee for a secondhand dealer's license shall be $200,
except that in 2013 the renewal fee shall be $283. There shall be
a fee of $10 for replacement of a lost license.
A secondhand dealer's license shall be valid only for the location
designated upon the application. All activities regarding secondhand
dealing must be conducted at the licensed premises.
An individual who transfers or otherwise disposes of an item
to a secondhand dealer shall not fail or refuse to give:
A. The individual's true name, date of birth and residence address which
shall be verified by a New York State driver's license, New York State
nondriver's identification card, police identification card or other
means of identification approved by the Chief of Police; and
B. If the individual is acting as an agent for a principal, proof of
the principal's true name, date of birth and residence address.
Every secondhand dealer shall keep a substantially bound book, not less than six inches in either length or width, in which shall be legibly written in ink and in English at the time of every purchase or sale a description of every secondhand article so purchased, the number or numbers, any monograms, inscriptions or other marks of identification that may appear on the article, the name, date of birth, residence address, general description and signature of the person from whom such purchase was made, the date and time when the purchase was made, the purchase price, the tag number attached to each item, and the name of the employee who accepted the item. All such record books shall be open to inspection by any member of the Rochester Police Department during the hours of business operations. No entry in such book shall be erased, obliterated, altered or defaced, and such book shall be maintained for a period of three years from the date of the latest purchase or sale entry made therein. All such record books shall be open to inspection by any member of the Rochester Police Department. The Police Chief shall promptly notify individual licensees that entries in such book may be discontinued, upon confirmation of satisfactory electronic reporting by said licensee pursuant to §
96-15.
Every secondhand dealer shall at the time of purchase and until resale attach and keep affixed a properly numbered tag to, or otherwise keep legibly numbered, each secondhand article purchased and shall also make entry of such number in the book provided for in §
96-12 and on the purchase receipt.
Each secondhand dealer shall submit to the Chief of Police a
daily report of each purchase of secondhand goods that day. The report
shall:
A. Be for each item purchased or each group of substantially similar
items purchased as part of a single transaction which has an aggregate
price equal to or greater than $10.
B. Include the following information:
(1) The date, place, and time of each transaction, including the location
where the secondhand dealer purchased or received the item or group
of items;
(2) A description of the item or group of items, including:
(a)
The specific type and number of items;
(b)
The manufacturer, model number and year of manufacture, if known,
and any unique identifying number found on the item;
(c)
The color, size, style and approximate age;
(d)
For jewelry (other than costume jewelry meeting standards set
by the Chief of Police), a description by weight (if payment is based
on weight), style, gender, number and configuration of stones and
any initials or distinguishing marks or inscriptions;
(e)
A statement of whether or not the item appears to have been
altered by any means, including:
[1]
Obscuring a serial number or identifying feature;
(f)
The amount paid or other consideration; and
(g)
Additional items added identified by the Chief of Police in
the Rules and Regulations.
(3) For each individual from whom the secondhand dealer purchases an
item: the individual's name, date of birth, residence address and
physical description of the person from whom the purchase was made
and the date and time when the purchase was made, and the name of
the employee purchasing the item. The identity of the seller shall
be verified by use of a New York State driver's license or New York
State nondriver's identification card, police identification card
or other means of identification approved by the Chief of Police.
The license or identification card number shall also be recorded in
the record with the other identifying information, and the license
or identification card shall be precisely recorded electronically
through scanning or webcam and maintained for one year.
(4) When the Police Department, after review of the electronic form submitted
by a secondhand dealer, has reason to believe that an item on that
electronically submitted form is stolen, then the Police Department
shall request that the secondhand dealer submit a photograph of the
item, by electronic transmittal or by mail or hand delivery.
The Chief of Police shall, consistent with the express standards,
purposes and intent of this chapter, promulgate, adopt and issue such
interpretations, procedural rules, regulations and forms as are in
the Chief of Police's opinion necessary to effective administration
and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter. These interpretations,
rules, regulations and forms shall be available to the public at the
License Clerk's office. Such rules, regulations and forms shall be
effective upon filing with the City Clerk as a communication to the
City Council.
Should any section, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase in
this chapter be declared unconstitutional or invalid for any reason,
the remainder of the chapter shall not be affected thereby and shall
remain in full force and effect, and to this end, the provisions of
this chapter are declared to be severable.