All specific provisions of this chapter shall control over general provisions.
(Ord. 25 § 4(k), 1978)
For the purposes of this chapter, the words set forth in this section shall have the following meanings:
"Business"
includes every pursuit, trade, occupation, avocation, employment, business or calling.
"Employee"
means any person acting within the scope of the employer's business within the limits of the city.
"Employees, Average Number of."
For the purpose of determining the average number of employees employed during the year, the number of full-time and/or equivalent part-time persons employed at or near the fifteenth day of each month during the year in which the business is transacted within the city shall be added together and the sum total shall be divided by the number of months or fractions of months said business is in operation, fractions omitted. Equivalent part-time persons employed means the cumulative hourly total of part-time employees converted to equivalent full-time employees (example: two half-time employees equal one full-time employee).
"Established place of business"
means the place actually occupied either continuously or at regular periods by any person required to be permitted pursuant to this chapter and where such persons, books and records are kept and a large share of his business transacted.
"Peddler"
includes any person, whether principal or agent, whether a resident of the city or not, who goes from house to house or to only one house, or upon any street, sidewalk, alley, or in any park or public place in the city, conveying goods, wares, merchandise, magazines, periodicals or other publications, regularly published newspapers excepted, or any coupon certificate, ticket or card which is redeemable in goods, wares, merchandise, or services, or offering the same for sale, or making sales and delivering articles to purchasers. It does not include vendors of milk, bakery products, produce, groceries, ice cream or ice, who distribute their products to regular customers on established routes.
"Person"
includes person, corporation, firm, agency, copartnership or association, and also includes the singular and plural, masculine, feminine and neuter.
"Retail business" or "retail sales"
includes all sales of goods, wares, merchandise or services to a consumer.
"Solicitor"
includes any person, whether principal or agent, whether a resident of the city or not, who goes from house to house, or to only one house, or upon any street, sidewalk, alley, or in any park or public place in the city, soliciting or taking orders for sales of goods, wares, merchandise, magazines, periodicals, or other publications, regularly published newspapers excepted, or personal property of any nature whatsoever, or any coupon, certificate, ticket or card which is redeemable in goods, wares, merchandise or services, for future delivery, or for service to be performed in the future, whether or not such individual has, carries or exposes for sale a sample of the subject of such order or whether he is collecting advance payments on such orders, or who solicits, takes or attempts to take public opinion polls, consumer surveys or by such contacts attempts to secure familiar information. Such definition includes any person who uses any building, motor vehicle or other place within the city for the primary purpose of exhibiting samples and taking orders for future delivery, or one who, as an invitee of a purchaser or prospective purchaser or otherwise, solicits a sale or who exhibits any sample or gives a demonstration or makes a delivery within the city after a purchaser or prospective purchaser has been solicited or contacted by telephone, correspondence or other method of communication from within the city. Such definition includes the term "canvasser."
"Transient merchant"
includes any person, whether a resident of the city or not, who engages in a temporary business of selling and delivering goods, wares and merchandise within the city, and who, in furtherance of such purpose, leases, uses or occupies any building, motor vehicle, public room in a hotel or shop or other place within the city for the exhibition and sale of such goods, wares and merchandise, either privately or at public auction; provided, that such definition shall not be construed to include any person, firm or corporation who, while occupying such temporary location, does not sell from stock, but exhibits samples for the purpose of securing orders for future delivery only. The person, firm or corporation so engaged shall not be relieved from complying with the provisions of this chapter merely by reason of associating temporarily with any local dealer, merchant, or auctioneer or by conducting such transient business in connection with, as a part of, or in the name of any local dealer, merchant or auctioneer.
"Wholesale business" or "wholesale sales"
includes all sales of goods, wares, merchandise or services to a retailer.
(Ord. 25 § 4(a)—(j), 1978)
It is unlawful for any person, or for any person as agent, clerk or employee, either for him or herself or for any other person, within the corporate limits of the city to transact, engage in, or carry on any business, show, exhibition, or game, specified in this chapter without first having procured a permit therefor, as in this chapter required.
(Ord. 25 § 1, 1978)
The amount of any permit imposed by this chapter shall be deemed a debt to the city and any person, or any person as agent, clerk, or employee, either for him or herself or for any other person transacting, engaging in, or carrying on any business, show, exhibition, or game, specified in this chapter without having a permit from the city to do so, shall be liable to an action in the name of the city in any court of competent jurisdiction for the amount of permit imposed by this chapter.
(Ord. 25 § 3, 1978)
Before any permit is issued to any person, such person shall make written application therefor to the city treasurer. Such application shall:
A. 
State the nature or kind of business or enterprise for which the permit is required;
B. 
State the place where such business or enterprise will be transacted or carried on;
C. 
State the name of the owner of the business or enterprise;
D. 
Be signed by the applicant.
(Ord. 25 § 5(A--D), 1978)
A. 
Before any permit is issued to any person doing business in the following categories, application for a business permit must be made to and a permit issued by the city treasurer:
1. 
Amusement establishment and devices;
2. 
Bingo;
3. 
Dances and dancehalls;
4. 
Entertainment and entertainers;
5. 
Massage establishments and technicians;
6. 
Solicitations;
7. 
Taxicabs and taxi drivers.
(Ord. 25 § 5(E), 1978; Ord. 37 § 1, 1978; Ord. 105 § 1, 1984; Ord. 124 § 2, 1985; Ord. 160 § 1, 1989)
[1]
Editor's Note: For the provisions governing the issuance of permits in these categories, see Ch. 5.08.
A. 
Upon application therefore as provided in this chapter, it shall be the duty of the city treasurer to prepare and issue a permit under this chapter.
B. 
No permit shall be issued unless a full compliance is had with all ordinances of the city, and where laws of the state require a person to be permitted under and by virtue of its laws, the same shall be a condition precedent to the granting of a permit by the city, and if the applicant so required to be permitted by the state has failed to comply with the laws of the state, no permit shall be issued by the city.
C. 
If any permit has been issued through error, the same shall be void and of no force and effect.
D. 
In no event shall any mistake or error made by the city treasurer in stating the amount of a permit provided in this chapter, prevent the collection by the city of an amount that shall be actually due from any person transacting or carrying on a business subject to a permit under this chapter.
(Ord. 160 § 1, 1989)
A. 
Each permit granted or issued under the provisions of this chapter shall authorize the permittee to transact or carry on the business or calling therein designated and at no other place, and the said permit shall not be assignable or transferable. However, a change of location shall be allowed to the owner of the permit upon the payment to the city treasurer of the sum of two dollars.
B. 
The city treasurer shall make a charge of two dollars for each duplicate of a permit issued under the provisions of this chapter which has been lost or destroyed.
(Ord. 25 § 7, 1978)
All permits must be kept and posted in the following manner:
A. 
Subject to other provisions of this code, any permittee engaged in business at a fixed place of business shall keep the permit issued posted in a conspicuous place upon the premises where such business is conducted.
B. 
Any person engaged in business in the city, but not operating from a fixed place of business, shall keep the permit issued to him or her upon his person at all times while engaging in such business.
C. 
Each permittee shall at all times, when requested, exhibit said permit to any police officer or other official of the city.
(Ord. 25 § 8, 1978)
All permits shall be paid in advance in the lawful money of the United States at the office of the city treasurer; provided, however, that the permits required to be paid by the provisions of this chapter shall be due and payable from and after the first day of July, 1978. All permits charged on an annual basis shall be prorated for the year 1978 and shall be due and payable on July 1, 1978 and the first day of each January thereafter. Said permits shall be delinquent thirty days after the same are due and payable, except monthly and quarterly permits which shall be delinquent ten days after the same becomes due and payable.
(Ord. 25 § 10, 1978)
A. 
The monthly permit provided in this chapter shall be due and payable to the city on the first day of each month, in advance, unless otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, from all persons who have for the previous month been permitted to carry on the same business, show, exhibition or game (and from all persons who have not been permitted for the previous month for the same business, show, exhibition or game).
B. 
The quarterly permit provided in this chapter shall be due and payable to the city on the first days of January, April, July and October, in advance, and all such permits shall expire with the last days of March, June, September and December of each year; provided, however, that any person desiring to do so may pay for and procure all four quarterly permits at the time the first quarterly permit becomes due and payable under the provisions of this chapter.
C. 
The daily and weekly permits provided in this chapter shall be due and payable to the city in advance.
D. 
The annual permits provided in this chapter shall be due and payable to the city on the first day of January of each year, in advance.
E. 
No greater or less amount of money shall be charged or received for any permit than is provided in this chapter, and no permit shall be sold or issued for any part of time other than is provided in this chapter, and there shall be no rebate given for any unused portion of the term except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter.
(Ord. 25 § 12, 1978)
A separate permit shall be obtained for each separate business, or each branch establishment, or separate place of business in which a business, show, exhibition, or game is transacted, conducted, or carried on, only that business, show, exhibition or game described in such permit, and which is indicated thereby; provided further, that where a permit is imposed in this chapter upon any business, show, exhibition, or game in which the average number of employees of such business or the number of business transactions is made the basis for ascertaining the amount of such permit, a separate permit tax shall be paid for each branch establishment or place of business in which the business, show, game, or exhibition is transacted, conducted, or carried on, based upon the average number of employees or number of business transactions of each such branch establishment or separate place of business. Any person conducting more than one business in the same storeroom shall not be required to pay more than one permit tax; provided, however, such additional business is so conducted by him or her shall be one that is ordinarily and customarily conducted in connection with such other business.
(Ord. 25 § 11, 1978)
All moneys collected under this chapter shall be deposited in the general fund of the city by the city treasurer.
(Ord. 25 § 13, 1978)
A. 
The city council may at its option and good cause appearing therefor, waive the payment of any concert, exhibition, lecture or entertainment, the nature of which in view of public morals and well-being, meets with the approval of the city council and where the major portion of the receipts, if any, derived therefrom are to be used solely for charitable or benevolent purposes within the city and not for the purpose of private gain.
B. 
The city council may at its option and good cause appearing therefor, waive the payment of any permit fee required by this chapter to be paid by any religious, charitable, fraternal, educational, military, state, county, or municipal organization for the conducting or staging of any entertainment, dance, concert, exhibition or lecture, the nature of which in view of public morals and well-being, meets with the approval of the city council, and where the major portion of the receipts, if any, derived from any of the same are to be used wholly for the benefit of such organization and not for the purpose of private gain of any individual.
(Ord. 25 § 37, 1978)
None of the permit fees provided for by this chapter shall be so applied as to occasion an undue burden upon the interstate commerce.
(Ord. 25 § 39, 1978)
This chapter shall never be construed, or held as licensing or permitting the carrying on of any unlawful trade, calling, occupation, game or amusement and every such trade, calling, occupation, game or amusement is prohibited, and no permit shall be granted or issued therefor.
(Ord. 25 § 40, 1978)
If the permits in this chapter provided shall not be paid on or before the 31st day of the month following the date when it shall become due, as provided in this section, then a penalty in the amount equal to twenty-five percent of the permit tax due and payable shall be added thereto. If the permits in this chapter shall not be paid on or before sixty days following the date when it shall become due, then a penalty in the amount of one hundred percent of the permit tax due and payable shall be added thereto. No permit shall be issued until such penalty shall have been paid, and in addition thereto, such delinquent permittee shall be liable for prosecution and the penalty provided in this section for failure to pay his permit as required by this chapter.
(Ord. 25 § 41, 1978; Ord. 72, 1981)
No person shall wilfully make a false statement or fail to report any material fact in any application for any permit under the provisions of this chapter.
(Ord. 25 § 42, 1978)
Failure to display a permit or receipt as provided in this chapter shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
(Ord. 25 § 36, 1978)