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(A) It shall be unlawful for any proprietor to install, operate or maintain to be operated, any coin operated machines without first having obtained a permit from the City Clerk-Treasurer in accordance with this subchapter. The permit shall be valid only for the number of machines therein specified. The use of additional machines shall require a new permit. The Chief of Police shall be the investigating official for the purpose of this chapter.
(B) No coin-operated machines shall be installed in any proprietor’s place of business unless such a permit has been issued.
(1992 Code, § 113.11) Penalty, see § 113.99
(A) Application for a permit.
(1) The application for a permit required hereunder shall be on a form prescribed by the City Clerk-Treasurer.
(2) The permit shall be permanently and conspicuously posted at the location of the machines in the premises wherein said machines are to be operated or maintained to be operated, and shall not be removed from said location during the period for which said license was issued.
(3) No permit issued under this subchapter shall be transferable nor apply to any premises other than originally specified as the location of the thing permitted, except with permission of the City Clerk-Treasurer upon written application by the transferee, made in the same manner as may be required in the instance of the original application for such permit.
(4) Violation of any provision of this subchapter shall be grounds for revocation or suspension of the permit issued hereunder. Each permit is effective for a single place of business only.
(5) The issuance of such permit does not vest any property right in the proprietor except to permit the use of coin-operated machines in accordance with the terms and conditions of this subchapter.
(B) Application requirements. An initial applicant for a permit under the provisions of this subchapter shall file with the City Clerk-Treasurer a written application on a form provided for that purpose which shall be signed and verified by the applicant, who shall be the proprietor of the business sought to be licensed. A separate application must be filed for each location sought to be permitted. The following information is required in the application:
(1) The name, age, address, telephone number and residence of each applicant and if there be more than one and they are partners, the partnership name, address or, if doing business under an assumed name, the name under which such business is intended to be conducted;
(2) The name and address of each person interested or to become interested in the business for which the permit is sought, together with the nature of that interest, and if the applicant is a corporation, the names, addresses and ages of each officer, director and managerial employee, and the state under the laws of which the corporate applicant is incorporated. The City Clerk-Treasurer may, at his or her discretion, require also the names of all stockholders;
(3) The premises for which a permit is sought, stating the street and number, if the premises has a street number, and otherwise such a description as will reasonably indicate the location of the premises. The applicant shall also state the nature of the interest in the premises and the name, or the associate, who is interested with the applicant either in the premises or in the business to be licensed;
(4) (a) A statement that neither the applicant nor any other person referred to in this subchapter has been convicted of any felony, within two years preceding his or her application; and that he or she has not had any similar permit issued to him or her revoked for cause within two years prior to the date of his or her application. It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police to investigate the criminal record of the applicant, if any, before affixing his or her signature of approval to the application. His or her signature shall constitute verification that to the best of his or her knowledge at the time of initial application the applicant has not violated any of the provisions of this subchapter.
(b) If the Chief of Police shall find such violation of this subchapter to exist, he or she shall immediately notify the City Clerk-Treasurer of the same and refuse to sign the application, such shall be sufficient grounds for denial of the requested permit.
(c) In the event that the applicant shall, at any time, be found to have made any false statement or material omission on the application, the same shall constitute grounds for immediate revocation of the license or permit issued hereunder.
(5) The name, address and phone number of the manager or operator of the premises to be permitted if such person is not the proprietor;
(6) (a) The signature of not less than ten owner/occupiers of real estate parcels, within a radius of 200 feet of the place in which the game room shall be operated signifying their consent or acquiescence to the operation of such business; provided, however, that if there are less than ten owner/occupiers of real estate parcels located within such radius, then such application shall contain the signatures of not less than two-thirds of all the owner/occupiers of real estate parcels within such prescribed distance.
(b) An owner/occupier of real estate parcel under this subchapter shall be construed as one individual person who is vested the ownership or title or partial ownership or title to the real estate parcel within the prescribed radius and who is also an actual occupier living within the residence or structure location upon the real estate parcel within the prescribed radius. Any owner of a real estate parcel within the prescribed radius who does not actually reside upon the said parcel or any occupier of the residence or structure upon the said parcel who does not own or partially own the same shall not qualify as an appropriate signer on the application.
(c) It is imperative that the conditions set forth above shall be met. There shall only be one individual person (owner/occupier) permitted to sign for each real estate parcel within the prescribed radius. A husband and wife or any joint owners of a parcel of real estate shall be considered as one individual person under this section and shall be permitted to sign only once as the owner/occupier for the entire parcel of real estate located within the prescribed radius.
(d) Furthermore, any person or persons who may own more than one parcel of real estate within the prescribed radius shall hereby be expressly prohibited from signing more than once on any application regardless of the total number of parcels of real estate he or she may own within the prescribed radius.
(e) The measurement of the prescribed radius, that being 200 feet, shall be taken in a straight line from and to the nearest points of the respective properties.
(7) The signature of the owner/occupier of the premises where the game room shall be operated;
(8) If, after a permit has been issued, there is a change in any of the facts required to be set forth in the application, a verified supplemental statement in writing giving notice of the change shall be filed with the City Clerk-Treasurer within ten days after the change. The word “change” with reference to corporate licensees is construed to include any change of directors or officers of the corporation, or a change in ownership of stock whereby any person secures 10% of the outstanding stock or effects a transfer of said percentage of stock; transfer of more than 10% of the total stock shall require a new license;
(9) Such other information as the City Clerk-Treasurer may require. Any such information shall be conclusively presumed to be correct and shall be deemed material in any subsequent prosecutions; and
(10) Advertising and signature requirements under these provisions shall be required of all initial permit applicants and for all transfers, but shall not apply to permit renewals. The City Clerk-Treasurer may refuse to approve issuance or renewal of a permit for failure to comply with any of the above stated provisions.
(1992 Code, § 113.12)
(A) Floor plan.
(1) It shall be required that the proprietor of all business establishments being operated as a game room submit to and file with the City Clerk-Treasurer a complete floor plan of the premises which shall clearly indicate all points of entrance and exit. Said floor plan shall be drawn on the form to be submitted to each proprietor by the City Clerk-Treasurer. It shall be submitted by the proprietor to the City Clerk-Treasurer at the time of his or her next permit renewal or at the time of initial application for such permit.
(2) The proprietor shall be required to supplement or update said floor plan from time to time and in the event that the business premises shall undergo any change in the number of entrances and exits. The addition to or removal from any business premises of any entrance or exit shall be clearly indicated on the supplemental or updated floor plan.
(3) An entrance or exit shall be construed as a door, opening or passageway that is or can be used as a point of ingress and egress to the business premises.
(B) Visibility.
(1) All coin-operated machines and any person operating the same must be visible from the entrance to the business establishment being conducted as a game room and the entrance must be unlocked during all times that the premises in question are open for business.
(2) All law enforcement personnel of the city shall have the right to enter into said premises, which shall include the right to enter into any adjoining or adjacent room or rooms to the licensed premises, at any time during normal business hours for the purpose of enforcement of terms of this subchapter.
(3) The lighting in the business establishment being conducted as a game room must be sufficient enough that all coin-operated machines and any person operating the same are clearly visible from the entrance. Lighting emitted solely from the coin-operated machine itself shall not be sufficient.
(4) Failure to comply with this provision shall be grounds for revocation or suspension of the permit issued under this subchapter.
(C) Indebtedness to city. The City Clerk-Treasurer shall not issue or renew a permit under this subchapter and shall suspend or cancel a permit if it is determined that the applicant or permittee is indebted to the city for any fee, costs, penalties or delinquent taxes.
(D) Proximity to schools, churches, libraries and residential zones.
(1) It shall be unlawful for any proprietor of a business establishment being conducted as a game room to cause, permit or allow the same to be located, operated or maintained within 200 feet of a building used primarily as a church or for classrooms of a school or from the nearest street entrance to any school playground, or within 200 feet of any other existing game room; nor within 200 feet of any public library.
(2) The distance is to be measured in a straight line from and to the nearest points of the respective properties. The restrictions by division (B) above shall not apply to game rooms lawfully in existence and operating upon the effective date of this subchapter.
(1992 Code, § 113.13) Penalty, see § 113.99
It shall be unlawful and contrary to public policy for any proprietor of coin-operated machines to permit any person not having attained his or her eighteenth birthday to play, operate, assist, manage or attempt thereto, any coin-operated machine or device of similar contrivance, regardless of label or name there affixed, within the confines of the city, during hours when the minor’s particular school is actually in session. This section shall not apply to minors no longer in school.
(1992 Code, § 113.14) Penalty, see § 113.99
No proprietor shall permit intoxicated persons to loiter on the premises.
(1992 Code, § 113.15) Penalty, see § 113.99
The licensee may substitute one coin-operated machine for a similar coin-operated machine without paying any additional licensing fee, provided that he or she first applies to the City Clerk-Treasurer for permission to make the exchange and supplies all the information required for the original license.
(1992 Code, § 113.16)
(A) The license fees levied by this subchapter shall be used together with the other funds to defray the cost of inspection of coin-operated machines to insure compliance with regulations, and the general expense of maintaining the city government.
(B) The fees collected pursuant hereto shall be placed in the General Fund for the aforesaid purposes.
(1992 Code, § 113.18)
(A) Any conviction pursuant to § 113.99 and the imposition of a penalty, shall not excuse any person from payment of the established fee or tax due and unpaid at the time of such conviction, nor shall it act as a bar in any civil action brought to effect recovery of such fee, penalty and interest.
(1992 Code, § 113.98)
(B) Any person who violates the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a violation and shall be fined no more than $250 and court costs for each offense. Upon conviction of any violation, in addition to the aforementioned penalty, said license issued under this chapter may be revoked.