(a) For the purposes of this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this subsection:
(1) Itinerant junk collector. Only such persons who gather junk from place to place with the aid of a cart or vehicle, hand drawn or propelled, who have no fixed place of business.
(2) Junk. Old or scrap gold, copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, rubber, automobile parts, iron, steel and other old scrap ferrous or nonferrous metals.
(3) Junk dealers. Any person engaged in the business of buying or selling junk.
(4) Junk dealer's agent. Any person who buys or sells junk for or on behalf of a junk dealer; provided, that the term "junk dealer's agent" shall not be construed to include any person regularly employed upon a salary by a regularly licensed junk dealer engaged in such business within the city.
(5) Nonresident junk dealer or nonresident junk dealer's agent. Any person who acts as a junk dealer or junk dealer's agent who is a nonresident of the city, and any firm so engaged whose members are nonresidents of the city, which has not been admitted to hold property and transact business in the city.
(b) No person shall, within the City, engage in the business of junk dealer, junk dealer's agent or itinerant junk collector without a city license therefor, which license shall be issued as provided in this section; provided, that no resident license shall be issued to any junk dealer, junk dealer's agent or itinerant junk collector who has not been a resident of the city for a period of at least one year prior to the application for such license.
(c) No corporation or firm shall engage in the business of junk dealer or junk dealer's agent in the City unless the officers of such corporation or firm who engage in the business of junk dealer or junk dealer's agent in behalf of such corporation or firm shall be eligible to be duly licensed as resident junk dealers or junk dealers' agents in accordance with this section.
(d) The annual license fee to act as a resident junk dealer shall be twenty-five dollars; to act as a junk dealer's agent, ten dollars; to act as a nonresident junk dealer or his agent who buys or solicits for the purchase of junk within the City, one hundred fifty dollars; and to act as an itinerant junk collector, two dollars. Such licenses shall be coextensive with the City, but no nonresident licensee shall be permitted to maintain a fixed place of business within the City; provided, that any nonresident junk dealer may purchase junk from any resident junk dealer without complying with this section, but if such nonresident junk dealer comes into the city in any motor vehicle or horse drawn vehicle, such nonresident junk dealer shall not be permitted to transport from the city in such vehicle or horse drawn wagon junk purchased from resident junk dealers, unless there is a compliance with this section.
(e) Every resident junk dealer shall certify to the city or its duly appointed agents the names of the agents for whom he desires a license certificate and shall give to each agent so engaged by him a certificate of authority, which certificate the agent shall at all times keep with his license, and no such junk dealer's agent license shall be valid and effective without such certificate of authority. The city shall give to each license certificate a numerically designated permit, and such permit so given shall be plainly stenciled or printed as "Dealer's Permit No ...... ,""Agent's Permit No ..... ,""Itinerant Collector's Permit No. . .... , " or "Nonresident Permit No. . .... , " as the case may be, upon both sides of all trucks or other vehicles used in the collecting and transporting of junk. The City shall not issue a junk dealer's agent's license until the applicant therefor shall first have presented a certificate from a duly licensed junk dealer showing such authorization, and no license shall be issued to a junk dealer's agent or itinerant junk collector unless he shall file with the city an affidavit setting forth that such applicant has not been convicted of a felony, that he has not been convicted of a misdemeanor in connection with junk business within a five year period to the time of his application and, in the event the application is for a resident dealer's license, that he has resided in the city for a period of one year next preceding the date of his application, which certificate and affidavit shall be filed by the city or its duly appointed officer issuing the license in his office.
(1) No license under this section shall be transferable.
(2) No person who has been convicted of a felony shall be licensed as a junk dealer, junk dealer's agent or itinerant junk collector, and no person convicted of a misdemeanor in connection with the junk business within a five-year period prior to the passage of this article shall be licensed as a junk dealer, junk dealer's agent or itinerant junk collector.
(3) No person engaged in the junk business shall engage a person as a junk dealer's agent who is ineligible to receive a resident junk dealer's or junk dealer's agent license. Any license issued upon false affidavit or any improper license issued hereunder shall be ipso facto void.
(f) Any person who shall violate this section shall be subject to the applicable provisions of section 61-3-49 of the Code of West Virginia.
(6-20-60)