[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood 3-8-1983
by Ord. No. 1876. Amendments noted where applicable.]
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall
have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
The business of offering for sale and selling at public sale personal
property to one who offers to pay the highest bid price therefor.
Any goods, wares, work of art, commodity, thing, chattel or merchandise.
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.
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.