[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Plattsburgh 3-5-1937 (Ch. 194 of the 1989 Code).
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Pawnbrokers — See Ch.
244.
Peddling and soliciting — See Ch.
254.
Precious metals dealers — See Ch.
265.
No person or persons, association, partnership, firm or corporation
hereinafter defined as a junk peddler or junk dealer shall, within
the limits of the City of Plattsburgh, engage in or carry on the business
of collecting, buying, selling or otherwise dealing in rags, old rope,
bottles, bones, tinware, rubber, paper, secondhand automobiles bought
for parts and resale or any other article or thing, except old metal
as defined in Article 6 of the General Business Law of the State of
New York, which by its worn condition is rendered useless for the
purpose for which it was made, whether at a fixed place of business
or as an itinerant peddler, without first having obtained and paid
for a license as hereinafter provided.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
JUNK DEALER
Every person, association, partnership, firm or corporation as principal, agent or employee who or which shall carry on the business of buying, selling or storing any of the articles enumerated in §
194-1, at an established place of business.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
JUNK PEDDLER
Every person, as principal, agent or employee, who shall go, with or without a vehicle, from house to house or place to place, buying, offering to buy, collecting or gathering any of the articles enumerated in §
194-1.
A. Any person, persons, association, partnership, firm or corporation
desiring to procure a license as a junk peddler or junk dealer, as
herein provided, shall file with the Common Council a written application
upon a blank form prepared and furnished by the City, which form may
be obtained upon application made therefor to the City Clerk. Such
application shall contain the name and residence of the applicant,
if an individual, partnership or firm, or the names of the principal
officers and their residences, if the applicant is an association
or corporation. The application form shall also describe, in detail,
the character of the business in which the said applicant desires
to engage, and the kind of materials that the said applicant desires
to collect, buy, sell or otherwise deal in. It shall also state the
following:
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
(1) Whether the applicant is licensed to sell old metal in accordance
with Article 6 of the General Business Law of the State of New York.
(2) The length of time such applicant or applicants, if an individual,
firm or partnership, or the manager or person in charge, if the applicant
is a firm, partnership, corporation or association, has or have resided
in the City of Plattsburgh, his or their places of previous employment,
whether married or single, whether he or they or any of them have
been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor and, if so, what offense,
when and in what court.
(3) The premises where such business is to be located or carried on,
giving street and number.
(4) Whether the applicant or applicants or manager had, either alone or with someone else, previously been a junk dealer or peddler as defined in §
194-2.
(5) Such other information as may be required by the Common Council.
B. Such application shall be signed and acknowledged before a notary
public or other officer authorized to administer oaths in the City
of Plattsburgh, New York.
Upon the filing of the application as provided in the preceding section, the Common Council shall, upon its approval thereof, direct that the City Clerk issue to the applicant named in the application, after the payment of the license fee as hereinafter provided, a license to engage in business as provided in §
194-1. All licenses shall be numbered in the order in which they are issued and shall state clearly the location of the junk business, date of issuance, expiration date of the license and the name and address of the said licensee. No applicant to whom a license has been refused shall make further application until a period of at least six months shall have elapsed since the last previous rejection, unless he can show that the reason for such rejection no longer exists. In the case of renewal of licenses issued for a specific period, the same procedure shall be followed as that required in the case of a new and first application.
[Amended 6-17-1976; at
time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Every junk dealer, as defined in §
194-2, for each established place of business; and a junk dealer who has an established place of business and/or a residence in the City of Plattsburgh on the date of the passage of this chapter; and every junk peddler, as defined by §
194-2, shall pay an annual license fee in an amount set from time to time by the Common Council by resolution. All licenses shall be issued as of July 1 and shall continue in full force until June 30 of the year next succeeding the date of the issuance thereof, unless sooner revoked by the Mayor. No junk dealer shall engage in business as a junk peddler without paying a separate license fee therefor. No junk peddler's license shall give authority for more than one person to buy, offer to buy or to collect thereunder. Every junk dealer or peddler while exercising his license shall carry his license and exhibit same whenever requested to do so by a licensed or police officer of the City. No license shall be used by any person, other than the original licensee and any holder of such license who permits it to be used by any other person, and any person who uses such license granted to any other person shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter. Whenever a license shall be lost or destroyed, without fault on the part of the holder or his agent or employee, a duplicate license in lieu thereof under the original application may be issued by the City Clerk, provided that a sworn statement of facts concerning lost or destroyed license is furnished and approved for acceptance by the Mayor.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Every license which shall be granted in pursuance of §
194-1 shall designate the house or place of business in or from which the junk dealer or peddler receiving such license shall be authorized to carry on such business. In case any licensee shall remove his or its place of business from place designated in the license, he or it shall immediately make application to the Common Council before such removal, for permission to change from the location set forth in the original license, and the Common Council in its discretion may either refuse or grant such permission.
A. No junk dealer or peddler shall carry on the business at or from
any place other than the one designated in the license thereof, nor
shall be or it continue to carry on business after such license has
been revoked or has expired.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B. No junk dealer or peddler shall purchase any articles enumerated in §
194-1 from any minor, apprentice or servant, knowing or having reason to believe the seller to be such, nor from any person between the setting of the sun and 7:00 a.m. in the morning.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
C. No person, persons, partnership, firm, association or corporation
licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall, during the continuance
of such license, use, exercise or carry on business or trade of pawnbroker
or dealer in secondhand articles, nor shall any pawnbroker or dealer
in secondhand articles receive a license under the provisions of this
chapter.
D. No license to operate as a junk dealer or peddler shall be granted
to any person, persons, association, partnership or corporation who
or which shall have been convicted, within two years of the date of
the application, of a violation of this chapter, or association or
corporation of which a member or members shall have been so convicted
or also any person who has been convicted of a felony or knowingly
received stolen goods.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The Common Council may, at any time, for such cause as they
shall, upon investigation, deem sufficient, revoke any license granted
upon the provisions of this chapter. Whenever any license shall be
so revoked, no refunds of any unearned portion thereof shall be made,
and no license shall be granted to any person, firm, partnership,
association or corporation whose license has been so revoked within
a period of two years from the date of such revocation. Notice of
such revocation and the reason or reasons therefor, in writing, shall
be served by the Common Council upon the person, firm, partnership,
association or corporation named in the application, by mailing the
same to the address given in the application, and upon filing a copy
of such with the City Clerk and the Chief of Police.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Every junk dealer shall keep, in such form as the Chief of Police
may prescribe and written in ink or indelible pencil, a daily record
of all articles purchased, showing the name, residence, age and occupation
of the person from whom each purchase was made, the name of the employer,
if any, of such person and also the day and hour of such purchase
and the price paid therefor. The records shall, at any reasonable
time, be open to the inspection of the Mayor, Chief of Police or any
person duly authorized in writing by the Chief of Police or magistrate
to make such an inspection, and in each case where this written authorization
is given, the same shall, prior to the inspection to be made, be exhibited
to the junk dealer, his agent or employee. No entry made in such daily
record shall be changed, erased, obliterated or defaced.
A. Every junk dealer, upon being served with a written notice so to
do, by a member of the Police Department, shall report to the Chief
of Police, on blank forms approved by the Chief of Police for this
purpose, an accurate description of all goods, articles or things
purchased or received by him in the course of business as a junk dealer
at such time and during such period of time specified in the notice,
stating the amount paid for such articles and the name, residence
and general description of the person from whom such goods, articles
or things were received and such additional information as the Chief
of Police may require.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B. The Chief of Police is hereby authorized to order that all goods,
articles and things be segregated and kept separate from the previous
articles reported on, for a period not to exceed five days from the
date of the purchase thereof.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
If any goods, articles or things whatsoever shall be advertised
in any newspaper printed in the City as having been lost or stolen
and the same, or any answering the description advertised or any part
or portion thereof, shall be or come into the possession of any junk
dealer or peddler, he or it shall give information thereof, in writing,
to the Chief of Police and state from whom the same was received.
Any junk dealer or peddler who shall have or receive any goods, articles
or things lost or stolen, or alleged or supposed to have been lost
or stolen, shall exhibit the same on demand to any police officer
or to the Mayor, Chief of Police or any magistrate or to any person
duly authorized in writing by the Chief of Police or magistrate, who
shall exhibit such authorization to such dealer or peddler.
[Amended 10-14-1955;
at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
A. No junk dealer, dealer or peddler shall carry on the business of a junk dealer from a junkyard in the City of Plattsburgh, nor shall there be maintained any junkyard in the City of Plattsburgh, unless said junkyard shall be enclosed in a manner consistent with Chapter
360, Zoning, of the City Code.
B. No posting or advertising matter of any kind shall be allowed or
permitted on said fence. The specifications for the building of said
fence shall be submitted to the Zoning Board, and said fence shall
be erected under the supervision of the Building Inspector of the
City of Plattsburgh. No junk or other materials shall be piled within
the bounds of any junkyard at a height in excess of one foot from
the top of said fence.
[Amended 10-5-1989 by L.L. No. 4-1989; at time of adoption of Code (see
Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person, persons, firm, association, partnership or corporation,
who himself or itself or by his or their or its Clerk, agent or employee
shall conduct the business of a junk dealer or peddler as herein defined,
without a license required by this chapter, or shall violate any of
the provisions of this chapter, or who, having had his, its or their
license revoked, shall continue as a junk dealer or peddler, shall,
upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine or penalty of not less
than $50 nor more than $250, and each day on which such violation
continues shall constitute a separate offense. In addition to the
penalties imposed, the license of the person, persons, firm, association,
partnership or corporation violating the same shall be cancelled or
revoked.