[HISTORY: Adopted by the Rockland County
Legislature 4-24-1984 by L.L. No. 3-1984. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
It is hereby declared and found that, because
of recent experiences by the public regarding the failure of certain
transient merchants to conduct their businesses in an orderly and
peaceable manner and to abide by fair and ethical business practices,
it is necessary to enact a local law which will require transient
merchants in Rockland County to obtain a license and to subject themselves
to regulation.
Whenever in this chapter the following terms
are used, they shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section:
The Director of the Department of Weights and Measures of
the County of Rockland.
An individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation
or other legal entity.
Any such business transacted or conducted in the County of
Rockland for which definite arrangements have not been made for the
hire, rental or lease of premises for at least one year in or upon
which such business is to be operated or conducted.
Any such business as may be operated or conducted by persons,
or by their agents or employees, who reside outside of Rockland County
or who have fixed places of business in places other than this County
or who have their headquarters in places other than this County or
who move stocks of goods, merchandise or samples thereof into this
County with the purpose or intention of removing them or the unsold
portion thereof away from the County before the expiration of one
year.
Includes any person, as well as his agents and employees,
who engages in the County in the temporary or transient business of
purchasing, selling or offering for sale any goods or merchandise
or price lists for the purpose of taking orders for the sale thereof
and who, for the purpose of carrying on such business or conducting
such exhibits thereof, hires, rents, leases or occupies any room or
space in any building, structure or other enclosure, vacant lot or
any other property whatever in the County, in, through or from which
any goods or merchandise may be purchased, sold, offered for sale,
exhibited for sale or exhibited for the purpose of taking orders for
the sale thereof.
A business conducted in a store, hotel, house, building or
structure for the purchase or sale, at retail, of goods, wares or
merchandise, and which is intended to be conducted for a temporary
period of time and not permanently.
This chapter shall not apply to ordinary commercial
travelers who sell or exhibit for sale goods or merchandise to parties
engaged in the business of buying and selling and dealing in goods
or merchandise in Rockland County, nor shall it apply to mobile food
unit operators licensed pursuant to Section 4 of Article 6 of the
Rockland County Sanitary Code.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The Rockland County Sanitary
Code is on file in the office of the County Clerk.
Except as provided in § 369-3, no person, firm, association or corporation shall, within the County of Rockland, establish, engage in or carry on, directly or indirectly, the business of transient merchant without first having obtained and having in full force and effect a license as provided herein.
B.
No fee for the required license shall be charged if
the transient merchant activity is conducted by or is solely for the
benefit of a not-for-profit New York corporation which has a permanent
place of operation in the County and is tax-exempt under the Internal
Revenue Code as a charitable, educational, religious or cultural organization.
Every person desiring to obtain a license shall
file with the Director of Weights and Measures, hereinafter referred
to as the "Director," an application, supplied by the Director, containing
the following information:
A.
The name and a description of the applicant. Individuals
operating under a trade name shall present a certified copy of the
trade name certificate filed in the Rockland County Clerk's office.
A partnership conducting business, whether or not under a trade name,
shall submit a certified copy of the partnership certificate filed
in the Rockland County Clerk's office when the partnership was formed.
A corporation shall furnish a photostatic copy of its certificate
of incorporation and, if a foreign corporation, its certificate of
authority to do business in New York State and, if operating under
a trade name, a certificate of doing business filed with the Secretary
of State of the State of New York.
B.
The address of the applicant.
C.
That the applicant is of legal age.
D.
A statement as to whether or not the applicant has
within the past 10 years been convicted of any crime or violation
of any municipal ordinance, the nature of the offense and the punishment
or penalty assessed therefor and such other facts or evidence as is
deemed necessary to establish that the applicant is a person fit and
capable of properly conducting the activity or business for which
the license is sought.
E.
A description of the type of transient merchant business
the applicant intends to conduct.
F.
The name and address of the owner or owners of the
business premises and the nature of the right of occupancy of the
applicant to the use of the premises.
G.
A corporate applicant shall furnish the name, address
and title of the officer of the corporation or the designated agent
of service upon whom process or other legal notice may be served.
A.
Upon receipt and approval of the license application
and the payment of the license fee, the Director shall prepare and
deliver to the applicant his license.
B.
The Director shall keep a record of all licenses issued,
as well as any matters herein described.
C.
Conditions for issuance and renewal.
(1)
No license shall be issued or renewed under this chapter
to any applicant:
(a)
Who has been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor
within the last 10 years, except for any misdemeanor under the Vehicle
and Traffic Law of this state.
(b)
Who has been found, within the last 10 years,
by any court of the state to have practiced a civil fraud, deceit
or misrepresentation in the business of selling goods or merchandise,
unless the Director shall decide in any particular case, upon the
facts there presented, that it is proper to issue the license applied
for.
(d)
Who has made false statements of a material
nature in the application, or who has been found by the Director to
have engaged in fraudulent or deceptive practices in securing said
license.
(2)
Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the
contrary, the Director, in his discretion, may grant a license as
provided herein to any applicant who has been convicted of a crime
within the last 10 years, upon the finding by the Director that said
applicant is of good moral character and has demonstrated reliability
and trustworthiness in finance and commercial transactions and would
not compromise or jeopardize the public in the carrying on of a transient
merchant business.
A.
All annual licenses issued under the provisions of
this chapter shall expire one year from the date of its issue. Other
than annual licenses shall expire on the date specified in the license.
Each licensed transient merchant shall be responsible for displaying
his license in a conspicuous place at his place of business, and a
separate license shall be secured for each place of business.
B.
Every agent or duly authorized representative offering
or selling merchandise at retail shall conspicuously post the true
name of the corporation, business and/or individual; the legal mailing
address, including street, Town, state and zip code; and the New York
State sales tax identification certificate.
No license under the provisions of this chapter
shall be transferred or assigned to any person or used by any person
other than the licensee to whom it was issued, his agents, employees
or duly authorized representatives, said agents, employees or duly
authorized representatives having been approved by the Director.
Any police officer or officer of the Department
of Weights and Measures shall have the power and authority to enter
any store or building in which such transient retail business may
be carried on at any time during business hours for the purpose of
ascertaining the actual conduct of business and goods stated in the
application.
A.
Licenses issued under the provisions of this chapter
may be revoked by the Director for cause for any of the following
reasons:
(1)
Fraud, misrepresentation or false statements contained
in the application for license.
(2)
Fraud, misrepresentation or false statements made
in the course of carrying on his business as transient merchant.
(3)
Any violation of this chapter.
(4)
Conviction of any crime or misdemeanor involving moral
turpitude.
(5)
Conducting the business of transient merchant in an
unlawful manner or in such a manner as to constitute a breach of the
peace or to constitute a menace to the health, safety or general welfare
of the public.
(6)
Misrepresenting the license as an endorsement of the
commodities, foods, goods, wares, merchandise or any article of sale
by the County of Rockland.
B.
Whenever any license shall be revoked, no refund of
unearned portion of the license fee shall be made.
C.
Any person aggrieved by the Director in revoking a
license or in refusing to grant a license or the making of any other
decision or determination may take an appeal therefrom to the Legislature
of Rockland County within 30 days after said decision or determination
has been made. Such appeal shall be taken by filing with the Clerk
to the Legislature a notice of appeal specifying the grounds therefor
and the person from whom the appeal is being taken. The Clerk to the
Legislature shall forthwith forward to the Legislature the notice
of appeal and shall direct the person whose decision or determination
is being appealed from to forthwith transmit to the Legislature all
papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from
was taken. The Chairman of the Legislature shall designate three Legislators
to hear appeals. A time shall be fixed for the hearing of the appeals,
and the notice of the hearing shall be mailed to the appellant and
the person whose decision or determination is being appealed at least
five days before the hearing date. Upon the hearing, any party may
appear in person or by his attorney. The three Legislators designated
to hear appeals may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify
the decision, determination or action appealed from and shall make
such decision or determination as, in its sole opinion, ought to be
made in the premises and to the end shall have the powers of the person
from which the appeal is taken. Any person or persons aggrieved by
any determination made upon an appeal may apply to the Supreme Court
of the State of New York for a review by a proceeding under Article
78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules, provided that the proceeding
is commenced within 30 days after the filing of the decision in the
office of the Clerk to the Legislature.
When taxable commodities, whether edible or
inedible, are sold at retail, the seller shall, upon completion of
each sale, deliver to the purchaser a register tape or sales slip,
clearly and legibly printed, accurately showing the current or currently
advertised selling price of the commodity purchased, the appropriate
sales tax and the total.
A.
Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, engage
in or work at the business of transient merchant in the County of
Rockland without a license as required by this chapter or who, having
had his license revoked, shall continue to engage in or work at the
business of transient merchant shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punishable by a fine of not
less than $500 nor more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for a period
not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
B.
A failure to comply with the other sections of this
chapter shall be punishable by a fine not less than $100 nor more
than $250 or by imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 days, or
by both such fine and imprisonment. The continuation of an offense
shall constitute a separate and distinct violation hereunder for each
day the offense is continued.
C.
The Director, as defined herein, and his employees
shall have the power to issue an appearance ticket as the same is
defined in Article 150 of the Criminal Procedure Law.
