[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood 3-8-1983 by Ord. No. 1876. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Businesses and occupations — See Ch. 117.
Fees — See Ch. 145.
Garage sales — See Ch. 163.
Peddling and soliciting — See Ch. 218.
Sidewalk sales — See Ch. 239.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
AUCTIONS and AUCTION BUSINESS
The business of offering for sale and selling at public sale personal property to one who offers to pay the highest bid price therefor.
PERSONAL PROPERTY
Any goods, wares, work of art, commodity, thing, chattel or merchandise.
PUBLISH
Any and all means of conveying to the public notice of sale or notice of intention to conduct a special sale, oral, written or printed.
SPECIAL SALE
Any sale of personal property or the publishing of a sale or an offering for sale thereof to the public by forced sales at reduced prices, such as insurance, bankruptcy, insolvency or sales of personal property damaged by fire, smoke or water. It shall also include going-out-of-business, loss-of-lease or termination-of-business sales so advertised and published so as to reasonably convey to the public that, upon the disposal of the stock of goods on hand, the business will be discontinued and cease.
Except as hereinafter permitted, no person shall conduct an auction or engage in the auction business or conduct a special sale in the Village.
An auction or special sale may be conducted in the Village when a license therefor has been obtained as provided in this chapter.
A. 
Application for a license pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be made to the Village Clerk at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the activities sought to be licensed and shall state:
(1) 
The full name and address of the applicant.
(2) 
The full name and address of any person other than the applicant who will conduct the auction or special sale.
(3) 
The residence address for three preceding years of the applicant.
(4) 
The residence address for three preceding years of all persons to conduct the auction or special sale.
(5) 
Whether an applicant or person to conduct the auction or special sale has ever been convicted of a crime or any violation of the New Jersey Criminal Code or any municipal ordinance relating to the conduct of auction sales. If the applicant is a corporation, the information shall be furnished for each officer or director thereof and for any person owning 10% or more of the stock of said corporation.
(6) 
The date, place and time of the conduct of such auction or special sale, if known. If not known, said information shall be furnished to the Village Clerk at least three days prior to the date of the conduct of such auction or special sale.
(7) 
The nature of the occupancy, whether by lease or sublease, of the premises where such auction or such special sale is to be held and the effective date of termination of such occupancy.
(8) 
An itemized list of the personal property to be offered for sale and the place where such personal property was purchased or acquired, and if not purchased, the manner of such acquisition to the extent known at the time of the application; if not known at the time of application, such information shall be furnished to the Village Clerk within three days after the conduct of the sale.
(9) 
The type of license applied for.
B. 
All such applications shall thereafter be delivered to the Director of the Police Department of the Village for investigation of the applicant and all persons named in the application within a reasonable time not to exceed 10 days thereafter. After completion of the investigation, the Director of the Police Department shall cause to be endorsed on such application his approval or disapproval thereof, returning the same to the Village Clerk. In the event of a disapproval of such application, the reason or reasons therefor shall be stated on such application, but any license fee hereinafter required shall be retained as and for an investigation fee to which the Village shall be entitled notwithstanding any refusal to issue a license hereunder.
C. 
The Director of Police or the Village Clerk may refuse to issue a license hereunder if:
(1) 
The application is incomplete, the answers are not responsive to the questions set forth on the application or the application of the applicant contains any false, fraudulent or misleading material statement.
(2) 
The applicant has been convicted of a violation of an ordinance relating to the conduct of auctions or special sales or has previously conducted sales in the Village of Ridgewood or elsewhere in bad faith or during the conduct of said sales has made any false, fraudulent or misleading material statement.
(3) 
The applicant has been convicted of a crime or other violation involving moral turpitude.
D. 
Any license may be suspended or revoked by the Village Manager for any of the aforementioned reasons.
E. 
Any applicant aggrieved by the action of the Director of Police, the Village Clerk or the Village Manager shall have the right to file a written appeal to the Village Manager within 10 business days after notice of the action complained of has been mailed to the applicant by regular mail at the address set forth in the application. The Village Manager shall conduct a public hearing relative to the appeal, which hearing shall be conducted in a summary manner.
[Amended10-13-1992byOrd. No. 2375]
Licenses for auctions shall be issued for a period of three consecutive days or on an annual basis as applied for in accord with the fee schedule. Licenses for special sales and other than termination-of-business sales shall be issued for a period covering three consecutive days. Licenses for termination-of-business sales shall be issued for a period of 30 consecutive days. No license shall be issued unless the application therefor is accompanied by a fee payable to the Village in an amount as set forth in Chapter 145, Fees. No going-out-of-business sale shall continue for longer than 90 days. In the event that a license is applied for and issued for auction sales for a calendar year, the applicant shall notify the Village Clerk, in writing, at least three business days prior to each auction, furnishing the information required under § 107-4A(2), (4), (5), (6), (7) and (8) of the Village Code.
Upon commencement of any auction or special sale, the license therefor shall be conspicuously displayed near the entrance to the premises.
No additional merchandise of the type or kind described in the original application shall be added to the inventory or list of personal property to be offered for sale, except as herein set forth, and no special sale of the type of fire, removal or going-out-of-business shall be permitted except for personal property involved in such fire, removal or going out of business in the premises where such sale shall be conducted, it being the intention of this provision to protect the public against fraud or deception in such sales, unless a complete report is filed with the Village Clerk within three days of the date of conduct of said sale.
No poster, sign or other display or advertising matter shall be exhibited upon the windows or doors of the premises upon which such auction or special sale shall be conducted so as to prevent the interior thereof from being visible and observable from the street fronting the same and upon the side street, if such premises are located upon a corner property, for police and fire detection purposes.
In the publishing of any notice of sale under this chapter, there shall be stated the number and the date of the license required by this chapter and the expiration date thereof.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any sale which is to be held under a judicial order, judgment or decree or a writ issuing out of any court or to enforce any lawful lien or power of sale, whether by judicial process or not.
No sale shall be conducted before 10:00 a.m. nor shall any sale terminate after 10:00 p.m. without the applicant first having obtained the permission of the Village Manager, in writing.