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5.40. 010 License required.

Every person advertising by sign, circular, handbill, newspaper, periodical, magazine, or other publication, or by any other means whatsoever, the telling of fortunes, forecasting of futures or furnishing any information not otherwise obtainable by the ordinary process of knowledge, for or without pay, by means of any occult or psychic power, faculty or force, clairvoyance, clairaudience, cartomancy, psychology, psychometry, phrenology, spirits, mediumship, seership, prophecy, augury, astrology palmistry, necromancy, mindreading, telepathy, or other craft, art, science, cards, talisman, charm, potion, magnetism, magnetized article or substance, gypsy cunning or foresight, crystal gazing, oriental mysteries or magic of any kind or nature, or engaging in, practicing or carrying on any art, profession or business, the advertisement of which is regulated by this chapter, shall pay the license fee required by Section 5.40.100 and shall procure a license in the manner prescribed in this chapter. (Prior code § 21-31(a))

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5.40. 020 Compliance with license.

No person shall commence, engage in, carry on or advertise that he or she will engage in or carry on any trade, calling, profession, or occupation specified in Section 5.40.010 without first having procured a license as required by the licensing provisions of this section or without complying with any and all regulations of such trade, calling, profession or occupation contained in this chapter or any other ordinance of the city; and the carrying on of any trade, calling, profession or occupation mentioned in this chapter, without first having procured such a license when required so to do, or without complying with any and all regulations of such trade, calling, profession or occupation contained in this chapter, shall constitute a separate violation of this chapter for each and every day that such trade, calling, profession or occupation is so advertised, engaged in or carried on. (Prior code § 21-31(b))

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5.40. 030 License application.

Every person desiring to practice a profession, art or business specified in Section 5.40.010 shall make application to the business license department. The applicant shall provide the following:

A. Name and address of the applicant;

B. Address of the proposed location for the conduct of the proposed profession, art or business;

C. Record of conviction for violations of the law, excluding minor traffic violations;

D. Two copies of a photograph, one-inch by one-inch in size, taken within two years of the application for submission to the police department;

E. The fingerprints of the applicant on a suitable form to be provided by the police department;

F. Address, city and state, and approximate dates when this applicant practiced a similar business, either alone or in conjunction with others;

G. Such other and further information as the business license inspector may find necessary to process the application. (Prior code § 21-31(c))

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5.40. 040 Investigation.

A. The business license inspector shall make, or cause to be made, an investigation of each application in order to verify the facts contained in the application or the supporting data.

B. After conducting said investigation, the business license inspector shall submit the application and the results of the investigation to the business license department, who shall conduct a hearing on the matter of the application. (Prior code § 21-31(d))

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5.40. 050 Issuance of license.

A. At the conclusion of the hearing, the business license department shall approve the issuance of the license if it shall find:

1. All the information contained in the application or supporting data is true;
2. No information has been brought to the attention of the business license department as a result of the investigations which would require the said department to refuse such license.

B. The business license department shall thereafter issue the license when:

1. The required fee has been paid; and
2. There shall have been posted with the city clerk a surety bond in the principal sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) executed as surety by a good and sufficient corporate surety authorized to do a surety business in this state and as a principal by the applicant which shall have been approved by the city attorney as to form, which bond shall have been given to insure good faith and fair dealing on the part of the applicant and as a guarantee of indemnity for any and all loss, damage, injury, theft, or other unfair dealing suffered by any patron of the applicant within the city during the term of the license. (Prior code § 21-31(e))

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5.40. 060 Separate license for each person.

Every natural person actively carrying on, conducting, or engaging in any of the professions, arts, businesses or callings for which a license is required, and enumerated in Section 5.40.010 shall file a separate application, separate photograph and fingerprints and pay a separate license fee as required by the licensing provisions of this title and post a separate bond as provided in Section 5.40.050 regardless of whether or not such natural person is practicing such profession, art, or pursuit on behalf of or for any firm, corporation, copartnership, association, society or any other such organization. (Prior code § 21-31(f))

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5.40. 070 Bond termination.

A. The liability on any bond deposited with the city as required by Section 5.40.050 may be terminated upon the filing with the city clerk by the surety on the bond of a written notice to the city wherein shall be stated that the surety intends to terminate the liability upon the bond, said termination to become effective thirty (30) days from and after the day upon which the notice of intention to terminate liability is filed with the city clerk; provided, however, that in no case shall the termination of liability by the surety on any bond affect any liability incurred prior to the date of termination thereof.

B. Upon the termination of liability by the surety upon any bond as provided in this chapter, the license of the principal of the bond shall be automatically revoked. (Prior code § 21-31(g))

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5.40. 080 License cancellation.

Upon the discovery of any false or misleading statement in the application or any misrepresentation by the applicant in procuring the license, or upon the failure, neglect, or refusal of the applicant to promptly, voluntarily and without notice, furnish and file a new bond when the surety on any bond has terminated its liability, and cause the same to be approved by the city manager as to sufficiency of sureties and by the city attorney as to form, or in case of death, bankruptcy or removal from the city of any one or both of the sureties on bond, then and in that event, the business license department, may, upon five days' notice to the applicant, cancel and annul the license; whereupon the applicant shall be amenable to the penalties prescribed in this title, from and after the date of the cancellation, as though in this title, the license had never been granted. (Prior code § 21-31(h))

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5.40. 090 Advertising restricted.

A. No person shall announce or advertise in any newspaper, magazine or other publication, or by handbill, pamphlet or poster, that any such person practices or engages in a calling, occupation, profession or art specified in Section 5.40.010, or print, publish or circulate or permit to be printed, published or circulated any newspaper, magazine, handbill or other publication containing any such advertisement or announcement; provided, however, that any person, holding a license from the city to engage in, practice or carry on any of the callings, occupations, professions or arts may advertise in newspaper, magazines or other publications or handbills, pamphlets, posters or cards only the name, address, telephone number and hours of business of such person, together with the name or names of the calling, occupation, profession or art carried on, engaged in or practiced.

B. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to prohibit any bona fide church or religious organization from publishing or announcing notices of the meetings or services of such church or religious organization, nor to prohibit any minister, missionary, medium or worker of such church or religious organization from having printed or from using a business card in the ordinary form of business cards. (Prior code § 21-31(i))

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5.40. 100 License fee.

The license fee for fortune-telling shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00), subject to the provisions of this chapter. (Prior code § 21-31(j))

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5.40. 110 Exceptions.

A. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any person solely by reason of the fact that he is engaged in the business of entertaining the public by demonstrations of mindreading, mental telepathy, thought conveyance or the giving of horoscopic readings, at public places and in the presence of and within the hearing of other persons and at which no questions are answered, as part of such entertainment, except in a manner to permit all persons present at such public place to hear such answers, when not conducted in connection with the business of telling fortunes. Nothing in this subsection, however, shall be construed as exempting any person from the payment of the applicable license fee, if any, required to be paid by the licensing provisions of this chapter.

B. No person shall be required to pay any fee or take out any license for conducting or participating in any religious ceremony or service when such person holds a certificate of ordination as a minister, missionary, medium, healer or clairvoyant from any bona fide church and holding regular services and having a creed or set of religious principles that is recognized by all churches of like faith; provided, further, that the fees, gratuities, emoluments and profits thereof shall be regularly accounted for and paid solely to or for the benefit of the church or religious association; provided, further, that the person holding a certificate of ordination from such bona fide church or religious association, as set forth in this subsection, shall before practicing the profession specified in this chapter, file with the business license board a certified copy of this certificate of ordination with his name, age, and street address in this city where he intends to carry on the business. Such bona fide church or religious association, as defined in this subsection, may, however, pay to its ministers, missionaries, mediums or workers a salary or compensation based upon a percentage basis; provided, the agreement between the church and the minister, missionary, medium or worker, is embodied in a resolution and transcribed in the minutes of such church or religious association.

C. No person shall be required to pay any fee or take out any license for carrying on the art of reading tea leaves in any bona fide, regularly established restaurant, where no charge for such readings is made. (Prior code § 21-31(k))

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