(A) No person shall directly or indirectly operate, conduct, or engage in the business or occupation of dealing in precious items without first obtaining a license therefor. For the purpose of this section, a person is a
DEALER OF PRECIOUS ITEMS if that person, in whole or in part, engages in the ordinary course of repeated and recurrent transactions of buying and receiving precious items from the public.
(B) For purposes of this section, a
PRECIOUS ITEM means jewelry, a precious gem, or an item containing gold, silver, or platinum. Precious item does not include the following:
(1) Coins, commemorative medals, and tokens struck by, or on behalf of, a government or private mint;
(2) Bullion bars and discs of the type traded by banks and commodity exchanges;
(3) Industrial machinery or equipment;
(4) An item being returned to or exchanged at the dealer where the item was purchased and that is accompanied by a valid sales receipt;
(5) An item which is received for alterations, redesign, or repair in a manner that does not substantially change its use and is returned directly to the customer;
(6) An item which does not have a jeweler’s identifying mark or serial mark and which the dealer purchases for less than $5; and
(7) Scrap metal which contains incidental traces of gold, silver, or platinum that are recoverable as by-product.
(C) No such license shall be granted except upon certification of the Police Chief or his or her designee and unless the names, addresses, and thumbprint of the dealer and all agents or employees of the dealer are on file in the noncriminal identification file of the Police Department. Such certifications shall be posted in a conspicuous place at dealer’s place of business.
(D) Any person who is convicted of buying, receiving, possessing, concealing, or aiding in the concealment of stolen, embezzled, or converted money, goods, or property shall not be permitted to operate as a dealer for a period of one year after conviction of a misdemeanor offense or five years after conviction of a felony offense.
(E) No licensee shall purchase or receive any article:
(1) From any person under the age of 18 years;
(2) From any person the licensee suspects as having stolen the article or is known to the dealer to be a thief or an associate of thieves;
(3) Between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.;
(4) From any person who is intoxicated; or
(5) From any person who has not presented a valid form of identification.
(F) (1) A dealer shall post in a conspicuous place in or upon its place of business a sign having its name and occupation.
(2) No precious item dealer shall fail to keep record of all persons with whom he or she does business and all property coming into his or her possession. Such records shall, at a minimum, contain the following information:
(a) The name, description (including the name of the maker, type of metal or gem, and all letters and marks inscribed) and photograph of the property, and the thumbprint, operator’s or chauffeur’s license or state identification number, registration plate number, and address of the person from whom the article was purchased and received;
(b) A copy of the operator’s or chauffeur’s license or state identification card;
(c) The date or time the purchase or exchange was made;
(d) The method and amount of payment; and
(e) The customer’s signature.
(3) All reports must be electronically transmitted to the Chief of Police or his or her designee. Every dealer, within 48 hours, must transmit to the Chief of Police or his or her designee by means of electronic transmission through a modem or similar device in such a format that the data is capable of direct electronic entry into the City Police Department’s computerized system, all transactions in which the dealer received precious items the preceding day. A transaction reported by electronic transmission under this division (F)(3) shall not be reported on paper forms unless the Chief of Police or his or her designee so requests.
(G) (1) A fee of $2 will be assessed per transaction. The fee breakdown is as follows: the electronic information data manager and dealer will each receive $0.50 per transaction and the city will receive $1 per transaction. The electronic information data manager will assess the property registration fee of $0.50 for each transaction the dealer reports, either through batch file upload, directly using the electronic information data manager’s business interface, or on the electronic information data manager’s Automated Reporting Service.
(2) A transaction is defined as a single buy, which may involve one or more precious items. This is a per transaction registration fee, not a per item fee included in the transaction. It is in the dealer’s discretion to recover the fees from its customers for registering the transaction. Further, the dealer may choose to incorporate the fee within other fees associated with the transaction.
(3) The dealer will be invoiced on a monthly basis. The electronic information data manager’s automated reporting service will generate a list of the billable transactions, which are used for deriving the invoiced amounts. The above fees are assessed for the use of the standard electronic information data manager’s automated reporting service. Any custom programming completed for the dealer will be negotiated on a contract basis and may result in unique licensing arrangements between the electronic information data manager and the dealer.
(H) The articles purchased or received shall be retained by the dealer for at least nine days before disposing of them.
(I) Before any such license is issued, the applicant therefore shall furnish a corporate surety bond in the penal sum of $10,000 with surety who is listed on the Department of Treasury’s listing of certified companies to be approved by the City Clerk, which bond shall be conditioned for the due observance during the time of the license of all laws of the state and all ordinances of the city. Any person aggrieved by the action of any such licensee shall have a right of action on the bond for the recovery of money, damages, or both. Such bond shall remain in full force and effect for a period of 90 days after the expiration or cancellation of any such license or after the termination of any action upon such bond.
(J) Every precious items dealer must comply with requirements and procedures established by state law.
(Prior Code, § 110.35) (Ord. O-164, passed 6-22-2015, effective 7-2-2015) Penalty, see § 110.99