[HISTORY: Adopted by the Municipal Council of the City of Taunton as Rev. Ords. 1964, §§ 10-13 to 10-24 (Ch. 12, Art. VI, of the 2010 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Pawnbrokers — See Ch. 329.
Peddlers, solicitors and vendors — See Ch. 337.
[Amended 10-21-1980]
No person or corporation shall store, or keep for sale, or be a keeper of a shop for, or be a dealer in the purchase or sale or barter of, coins minted by the United States government or other sovereignty, or metal of any composition, including but not limited to gold or silver, or antiques or junk or secondhand articles, unless duly licensed therefor by the Municipal Council.
[Amended 7-11-2000]
No person shall go about from place to place within the City collecting junk, old metals, rags, paper or secondhand articles with any vehicle without having been licensed so to do by the Municipal Council, and no person shall be so licensed unless he is a citizen of the United States. Each vehicle so used shall have neatly painted upon each side of the outer part thereof the name of the licensee and the number of the license, in plain letters and figures of not less than three inches in length, and so that the same may be distinctly seen and read, subject to the approval of the Chief of Police. The license issued under this section shall be carried by the person licensed when engaged in collecting junk and shall be shown upon request to any police officer, and such license shall be valid only as to the person named therein.
No person shall collect junk, old metals, rags, paper or secondhand articles within the City without a wagon or other vehicle without having been duly licensed so to do by the Municipal Council. The license issued under this section shall be carried by the person licensed when engaged in collecting junk and shall be shown upon request to any police officer, and such license shall be valid only as to the person named therein.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II).
[Amended 11-5-1984; 7-11-2000; 9-24-2001; 7-14-2009]
Every license granted under the provisions of this chapter shall be signed by the City Clerk and shall be recorded by him/her in a book for that purpose before being delivered to the licensee. Such license shall set forth the name of the person licensed, the nature of the business, and the building or place, if any, where the business is to be carried on and shall continue in force until the first day of May next ensuing after the date of its issue, unless sooner revoked. The City Clerk upon issuing licenses hereunder shall receive for the use of the City for each license issued $100.
The Municipal Council may grant licenses at any time during the month of April, to take effect on the first day of May then next ensuing, and after the 30th day of April licenses may be granted by it for the remainder of the year ending on the first day of the following May.
Any license granted under this chapter may be revoked at pleasure by the Municipal Council. Whenever any such license shall be revoked, the City Clerk shall note such revocation upon the face of the record of the license and shall give written notice of such revocation to the Chief of Police and to the holder of the license. Such notice shall be delivered to the holder of the license in person or may be left at the place of business designated in the license.
Every person licensed as a keeper of a shop shall put in some suitable and conspicuous place on the shop a sign having the name and occupation legibly painted thereon in letters large enough to be visible from the street, and no person so licensed shall carry on the business in any other place than that designated in the license, unless consent to the removal is granted by the Municipal Council and endorsed on his/her license by the City Clerk.
[Amended 1-2-1979; 10-21-1980; 3-3-2009[1]]
A. 
All persons, including corporations, licensed to store or keep for sale or licensed as collectors of, or dealers in, or keepers of shops for the purchase, sale or barter of, coins minted by the United States of America or other sovereignty, or metal of any composition, including but not limited to gold or silver, or copper line wire or scrap copper wire, or antiques, or junk, or secondhand articles, shall keep a bound book with pages numbered consecutively. At the time of every purchase or receipt of any such article, an entry shall be made in said book, legibly written or printed in the English language, giving a detailed description of the purchase or receipt, the quantity purchased, the purchase price, the date of purchase, the name, the age, and the residence (street, number, city or town) of the seller, and the registration number of the seller's motor vehicle. If the seller is not the owner of a registered motor vehicle, the subject's motor vehicle operator license number shall be recorded.
B. 
It shall be the licensee's responsibility to require and record the following information for each transaction and sale:
(1) 
A photocopy of the seller's driver's license or photo identification card.
(2) 
License plate number of the vehicle used to convey the material sold to the dealer.
(3) 
Sales slip will contain a legibly written or printed description in the English language of the material purchased, date of purchase, and printed name and signature of seller acknowledging that he/she legally owns the material offered for sale.
(4) 
A photograph of the material offered for sale.
C. 
Any police officer shall be afforded access to the business to view the bound book, sales slips, and photocopies of driver's licenses at any time during regular business hours.
D. 
The licensee shall retain the information obtained pursuant to this section for one year from the date of sale.
E. 
Any violation of the foregoing shall be a valid reason for immediate revocation of said license.
F. 
Said bound book shall be kept by the licensee for at least one year from the date of the last entry recorded in the same.
G. 
Whoever violates any provision of this section or any other section of this chapter shall be punished as provided in § 1-5 of these Revised Ordinances. For the purposes of this section, each unlawful act, transaction, or omission to comply with any provision shall constitute a separate offense.
H. 
Stolen goods. Every licensee who shall receive or be in possession of any goods, articles or things of value that may have been lost or stolen shall upon demand produce such article or thing to any member of the Police Department for examination.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II).
No entry in the record book required by § 287-8 shall be changed, erased, obliterated or defaced, and such book, every such shop and all articles of merchandise therein shall at all times be open for inspection by the Mayor, any member of the Municipal Council, the Chief of Police, or any other person by any of them duly authorized and by every police officer of the City.
No shop licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall remain open for the transaction of business on Sundays, and all such shops shall be closed for the transaction of business on every other day of the week from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and no keeper of such shop shall purchase or receive any of the articles enumerated in § 287-1 during that time, but with this exception, namely, that the shops of those persons engaged in the business of buying and selling antiques, so-called, and such articles as may be properly and genuinely classified within such category, may remain open for the transaction of business on Sundays between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and on every other day of the week from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
[Amended 1-2-1979]
A. 
No person who holds a license under the provisions of this chapter shall directly or indirectly purchase or receive by way of barter or exchange any of the articles mentioned in § 287-1 from any minor, knowing or having reason to believe him/her to be such. No article purchased or received by such person in the management of the business shall be sold by him/her until a period of at least two weeks from the date of its purchase or receipt by him/her shall have elapsed.
B. 
Any violation of the foregoing shall be a valid reason for immediate revocation of said license.
[Added 4-22-1975]
A. 
Any vehicle engaged in transporting or hauling junk cars, scrap metal or other like materials on public ways within the City must be enclosed in such manner or otherwise covered so as to prevent materials and debris from falling from said vehicles onto public ways within the City.
B. 
The penalty for the violation of this section shall be as provided in § 1-5 of these Revised Ordinances for each offense.