(A) License required. It is unlawful for any person to keep, conduct or maintain any building, structure, yard or place for keeping, storing or piling in commercial quantities, whether temporarily, irregularly or continually, or for the buying or selling at retail or wholesale or dealing in any old, used or second-hand materials of any kind, including cloth, rags, clothing, paper, rubbish, bottles, rubber, iron, brass, copper or other metal, furniture, used motor vehicles or parts which from their worn condition renders them practically useless for the purpose for which they were made and which are commonly classed as junk, whether with a fixed place of business or as an itinerant peddler, without having a license therefor from the city. No applicant to whom a license has been refused, shall make further application until a period of at least six months shall have elapsed since the last previous rejection unless he or she can show that the reason for the rejection no longer exists.
(B) Bond requirement. Before issuing a junk dealer’s license as provided for herein, the applicant shall execute and deliver to the City Administrator a bond in the penal sum of $1,000 with sufficient sureties approved by the Commission and conditioned that the applicant will in every particular conform with the requirements of any law relating to junk dealers.
(C) License conditions.
(1) Each vehicle kept or used by a junk dealer in the exercise of his or her license shall be marked on both sides with his or her name, the street, and number of the place of business, and the number corresponding to the number of his or her license in plain letters and figures at least two inches high and of such color as to be plainly read at a distance of 60 feet. Every licensed junk dealer shall have and keep a sign on the outside and in front of each of his or her places of business, on which shall be clearly set forth in conspicuous letters his or her name, and the number corresponding to the number of his or her license.
(2) Every junk dealer’s license shall designate the place of business in or from which the junk dealer receiving the license shall be authorized to carry on the business. No licensee shall remove his or her place of business from the place designated in the license until a written permit has been secured from the Commission, and the same shall have been endorsed upon the license. All signs required by division (C)(1) above shall be altered to contain the new address.
(D) License restrictions.
(1) No junk dealer shall carry on the business at or from any other place than the one designated in the license therefor, nor shall the business be carried on after the license has been revoked or has expired.
(2) No junk dealer shall make any purchase from any person, or receive any articles, between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
(3) No junk dealer shall purchase or acquire from any person under the age of 18 years any junk, other than old rags or paper, without the written consent of a parent or guardian. No item shall be acquired from any intoxicated person.
(4) The contents of the premises of every junk dealer shall be arranged in an orderly manner with all similar things located together so as to facilitate inspection by the proper authorities. The premises of every junk dealer shall be subject to inspection by the proper city authorities at any time.
(5) All articles received shall be retained for ten days before disposal. This shall not apply to old rags or paper.
(6) No licensee, or his or her agent, shall wreck, tear down, paint or otherwise destroy the identity of, or dispose of or allow to be taken out of his or her possession any second-hand motor vehicle, part or accessory purchased or otherwise secured by, or left for sale with him or her until 24 hours after the acquisition; provided, however, that the Chief of Police may grant a special permit to a licensee permitting a second-hand motor vehicle, part or accessory, in such special permit properly described, to be sold or disposed of and delivered to another when the Chief of Police has investigated and determined that there is no question as to the ownership of the second-hand motor vehicle, part or accessory.
(E) Records.
(1) Each junk dealer shall keep, in such form as the Chief of Police may prescribe, a daily record, in the English language, of articles purchased, including an accurate description, the name and residence of the person from whom each article was purchased, and the name of the employer of the person, if any; also the day and hour of the purchase and the price paid. The records shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of any police officer or the Mayor, Chief of Police, or any person duly authorized in writing for the purpose by the Chief of Police, who shall exhibit the authorization to the junk merchant, his or her agent or employee. No entry in the records shall be changed, erased, obliterated or defaced.
(2) In the case of motor vehicles or parts thereof, there shall be kept in addition a personal description of the person from whom purchased, and a complete description of the purchase, which shall include the trade name, and the motor, body, axle, coil, starter, carburetor, magneto, steering gear, radiator and manufacturer’s numbers and any other serial number, the style of body, model, color and license number.
(F) Inspection of property.
(1) If any goods, article or thing whatsoever shall be advertised in any newspaper printed in the city, as having been lost or stolen, and the same, or any answering the description advertised or any part or portion thereof, shall be or come into the possession of any junk merchant or peddler, he or she shall give information thereof, in writing to the Chief of Police, and state from whom the same was received.
(2) Any junk merchant or peddler who shall have or receive any goods, articles or things lost or stolen, or alleged or supposed to have been lost or stolen, shall exhibit the same on demand to any police officer, or to the Mayor, Chief of Police or any person duly authorized in writing by the Chief of Police or any magistrate, who shall exhibit the authorization to the dealer or peddler.
(1988 Code, § 6.40) Penalty, see § 10.99