[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Hazleton 11-16-1995 by Ord. No. 95-18 as Ch. 155 of the 1995 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
LICENSE and PERMIT
The right or privilege incident to the conduct of a business or business activity, which right or privilege is granted by the City Council, as distinguished from such right or privilege as the business or business activity might have secured from any governmental agency, either federal or state.
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to all licenses and permits required by this Code or other ordinances of the City; provided, however, that where any provision of this Code or other ordinance relating to a specific license or permit conflicts with any provision of this chapter, the former provision shall govern.
A. 
The power and authority to issue any license or permit required by this Code or other ordinance of the City is hereby vested in the Code Enforcement Officer or the Code Enforcement Clerk. Where the approval of any officer or department is required for the issuance of a permit or license, the provisions concerning such approval shall continue in force and effect, it being the intent and purpose hereof that the authority of the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk, in the issuance of permits or licenses and in the acceptance of the fees or taxes therefor, shall be purely ministerial, and the administrative powers of any officer or department appointed to supervise or pass judgment on the propriety of issuing any license or permit shall be preserved in the same manner and to the same extent that they would exist had not this section been enacted.
B. 
The Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk is hereby directed and authorized to direct the issuance of licenses and permits following the receipt of applications therefor and subject to the application of such procedure as may be prescribed by the various provisions of this chapter and other ordinances of the City Council.
A. 
Every person engaged in or conducting any business, trade, occupation or activity mentioned in this chapter shall pay a license or permit fee in the amount set forth in the fee schedule adopted by resolution of City Council; and, unless otherwise provided, the fees prescribed in this section shall be paid on an annual basis.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
B. 
Fee exemption for pesticide use.
[Added 4-20-1998 by Ord. No. 98-15]
(1) 
Those persons engaged exclusively in the registration, sale, transportation, distribution, notification of use and use of pesticides shall not be required to pay the licensing and permit fees established by § 264-5 and the fee schedule adopted by resolution of the City Council. Proof that the person possesses a valid and current license as a commercial and/or public pesticide applicator by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall be required in order to be exempted from the payment of the fees established by the City Code.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
(2) 
This subsection shall be effective upon passage by Hazleton City Council and signing by the Mayor. No refunds for fees and/or licenses paid by any person(s) prior to the effective date of this subsection shall be made.
Where, by virtue of any existing ordinance now in force and effect or which shall hereafter be enacted and ordained, an annual license tax is imposed upon any business, and such tax is embraced within the tax duplicate of the City, the City shall, upon the collection of the tax embraced within the tax duplicate, issue a separate receipt therefor and transmit the same to the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk. The Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk shall thereupon issue a license or permit for such business and cause the same to be signed, upon behalf of the City, by the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk.
A. 
Where an annual license tax is not imposed and levied in the tax duplicate delivered to the City in pursuance of law for purposes of collection, it shall be the duty of any person, requiring or requesting the issuance of a permit or license for any special purpose provided for in this chapter or other ordinances to file with the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk, upon forms to be prepared by him, a written application setting forth the following:
(1) 
The nature and character of the business or purpose for which such permit or license is requested.
(2) 
The name of the applicant.
(3) 
A particular description of the premises affected by the issuance of such permit or license.
(4) 
The nature and purpose of the privilege or right to be required by the issuance of the permit or license.
(5) 
Such other information as may be reasonably required in the blanks to be prepared by the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk.
B. 
It shall be the duty of the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk to refer the application to any department or officer charged with the duty of investigating the application. It shall be the duty of such person or officer to make immediate investigation into the facts and conditions surrounding the application and to return the same, with his approval or disapproval, to the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk. If such application is disapproved, such officer shall submit and file with the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk the reasons for his disapproval, whereupon the applicant shall have the right to appeal from the decision thus made to the City Council within a period of 30 days from the time of such disapproval. The City Council shall, after due written notice of not less than five nor more than 10 days to the applicant of the fact of such hearing, proceed to determine finally whether such rejection shall be sustained or whether the application shall be granted.
C. 
If such application is approved or sustained, the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk shall issue such license or permit in such form as may be prescribed by his department, but, as a condition precedent to the final execution and issuance of such license, the permittee or licensee shall first pay to the City the license or permit fee required by ordinance, and the City shall thereupon countersign the permit or license. In the event of such issuance, the original permit or license shall be delivered to the permittee or licensee, a copy thereof shall be transmitted to the City to be preserved in permanent form and the triplicate copy thereof shall remain the office of the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk to be preserved as a permanent record of the City.
A. 
In order to meet the various classifications of permits and licenses that may from time to time be issued, the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk shall be and hereby is authorized and empowered to classify, into appropriate divisions, the various licenses and permits so issued and, thereupon, to maintain separate and distinct volumes applicable to the various cases and classifications so adopted. In all cases, the licenses and permits shall be consecutively numbered in their respective classifications, and a separate volume shall be maintained for each of the classes thus established.
B. 
In all cases, each copy of a license or permit shall bear the same serial number, which shall be in consecutive numerical and chronological order, as the same may be delivered.
Upon the grant of a license or permit to an applicant, the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk shall issue to such applicant a certificate of license or permit sign in such a manner as shall be determined and provided by the City Council. Such certificate of license or permit sign shall be issued in duplicate, and the original thereof shall be maintained upon the premises of the property, vehicle or person made the subject of the license or permit and shall be open to public view and subject to inspection by the proper officers of the City.
A. 
Any person who shall apply to the City for a license or permit to exercise any trade, occupation or business of any nature whatsoever shall be required, as a condition precedent to the issuance of such license or permit, to maintain insurance upon such automobiles, trucks, omnibuses or other motor vehicles as may be used in connection with the business or occupation falling within the purview of such license or permit. Such protection and indemnity shall extend to any person who may be affected by the operation of such vehicles used in connection with the business authorized by such license or permit. Such applicant shall file with the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk a certified copy of such policy of insurance in the amount of $500,000 as to each person or specific instance of liability to one person alone, and $500,000 for group liability to more than one person, in any given instance of liability.
B. 
The insurance required by this section shall cover liability for damages of any nature or character whatsoever sustained or suffered by the City or any person by reason of the operation of the vehicles used in connection with such license or permit.
C. 
The insurance coverage required by this section shall extend during the term of any license or permit issued by the City. If such insurance coverage expires during the term of the license or permit, the licensee or permittee shall renew or replace such insurance prior to such expiration and furnish the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk with a certified copy of the renewal or new policy. If the licensee or permittee fails in this respect, the license or permit issued to him shall be immediately revoked and canceled.
The Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk shall make demand for the payment of license or permit fees and require payment of such fees to the City and shall require evidence of the payment of the license or permit fee from the applicant for such license or permit.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
It shall be the duty and obligation of all owners and operators of businesses or business activities mentioned in § 264-5 to make application to the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk and to pay the license and permit fees provided in the fee schedule adopted by resolution of the City Council within the time therein provided for such payment, without the necessity or requirement of any form of notice. Allegation of no notice or knowledge of this chapter shall not be accepted as a defense in the prosecution for any violation of this chapter.
The Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk shall maintain records containing the names and addresses of all applicants for licenses or permits, the character of the license or permit for which an application is made, the date upon which such application is made, the date upon which such application is granted and the date upon which the license or permit fees are paid.
The Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk shall make report of all matters incident to licenses and permits, at least once each month, to the City Council.
Any person aggrieved by the operation of any terms or conditions of this chapter shall have a right to present his appeal to the City Council to be heard on such appeal, by presenting an appeal in writing to the City Council not less than two weeks prior to the date upon which such aggrieved person desires to be heard. The City Council shall have the power to review, alter and amend or otherwise change any decision of the Code Enforcement Officer or Code Enforcement Clerk in the granting or refusal to grant any license or permit.
Any person violating any provision of this chapter shall be subject to the penalties set forth in Chapter 1, Article II, Violations and Penalties, of this Code. Each day that any violation of this chapter continues shall be considered a separate offense.
[Added 5-25-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-6]
A. 
No business license shall be issued until any and all permits required by the City of Hazleton and the City's Zoning and Code Enforcement Office have been obtained and provided to the City office responsible for issuing the business license.
B. 
No license will be issued to any person in default of any tax or fees due to the City of Hazleton, or its designated agent, levied as authorized by the City of Hazleton, or its designated agent.
C. 
Persons that engage in a business without having first procured a business license in accordance with Hazleton City Code are subject to penalty and fine.
D. 
Business licenses may be suspended or revoked at any time by the Mayor of the City of Hazleton on the advice and consent of the City Solicitor if it is determined that the holder of the permit or license secured same by misrepresentations; failed to maintain qualifications required by federal, state or local laws; engaged in fraudulent behavior or misleading advertising; consented to or allowed any behavior which would constitute a crime under federal, state or local laws, including but not limited to drug trafficking or drug possession; committed an act of gross negligence; or allowed any manner or form of public nuisance.
E. 
To allow for property practice, appeals to the Mayor's decisions relative to revocation as its licenses shall be heard by City Council. Aggrieved parties shall make a written request for appeal to City Council within 30 days of the date of the Mayor's decision. Failure to request an appeal by City Council within the prescribed time shall constitute a waiver of the aggrieved parties rights of appeal.
F. 
Any person who conducts transactions or engages in any business, trade, profession, or any other activity within the City of Hazleton without a business license shall, upon summary conviction before a Magisterial District Judge, be fined not more than $600 for any one offense, recoverable with costs and restitution, or imprisoned not more than 90 days, if the amount of such fines and costs are not paid. Each day of a continuing violation shall be considered a separate offense.