HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinances Book 14, Page 659, No Ordinance Number659
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AN ORDINANCE REGULATING AUCTION SALES OF JEWELRY IN THE
CITY OF PADUCAH, KENTUCKY, AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION
THEREOF
WHEREAS the purpose of this ordinance is to protest the public (I
and purchasers at auction sales and to prevent unfair competition
between merchants in the City of Paducah regularly engaged in the sale
of jewelry, as hereinafter defined in Section 1.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF'C01-9fISSIONERS OF
THE CITY OF PADUCAH, KENTUCKY:
SECTION 1. Definitions. a. By "jewelry," as used herein, is
meant gold, silver, plated ware, precious and/or semi-precious stones,
bric-a-brac, watches, clocks, china, glassware, leather goods, works
of art and like merchandise, usually handled and sold in jewelry stores
in the City of Paducah.
b. By "auction" and "Public auction," as herein used, are meant
a sale or offering for sale to the highest bidder jewelry, as herein-
above defined in Sub -section (a), in any building, or on or in any
street, alley or public place which the public is invited, solicited
or permitted to attend and offer bids.
c. By the words "stock on hand," as herein used, is meant
such jewelry, as hereinabove defined in Sub -section (a) which merchants
in the jewelry business usually and ordinarily carry through the year;
but not such articles, or any of them, purchased or otherwise acquired
especially and purposely for sales at public auction.
SECTION 2. Restrictions As to Sale. It shall be unlawful for
any person, firm or corporation to sell, dispose of, or offer for sale,
in the City of Paducah, at public auction, or to cause or permit to be
sold, disposed of, or offered for sale, in the City of Paducah, at
public auction, any gold, silver, plated ware, precious or semi-precious
stones, bric-a-brac, watches, clocks, jewelry, china, glassware, works i
of art, leather goods, or like merchandise, whether the same shall be
their own property or whether they sell the same as agents or employees
of others; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to
judicial sale or sales provided by law, or sale$ by executors or
administrators or to sales by or on behalf of licensed pawnbrokers
of unredeemed pledges �n manner provided by law, nor to bona fide
sales by persons of their personal or household effects, nor to the
sale at public auction of the stock on hand of any person, firm or
corporation that shall, for the period of one year next preceding
such sales, have been continuously in business in the City of Paducah
as a retail or wholesale merchant of gold, silver, plated ware, precious
or semi-precious stones, bric-a-brac, watches, clocks, jewelry, china,
crockery, glasswate, works of art, leather goods, or like merchandise;
provided, further that such sale at public auction of the stock on hand
of such merchant or merchants shall be held on successive days, Sundays
and legal holidays excepted, and shall not continue for more than
thirty days in all within the period of the year. It shall be unlawful
for any non-resident person, firm or corporation which shall purchase
the corporate stock of a retail jewelry company theretofore engaged in
business in the City of Paducah to conduct any sale at public auction
within a period of one year following such purchase, except for the
purpose of liquidating and disposing of the entire stock on hand of
such corporation, and then only in the manner herein provided.
SECTION 3. Periods of Sale. It shall be unlawful for any person,
firm or corporation to sell, dispose of, or offer to sell at public
auction, between the hours of six o'clock in the evening and eight
o;clock in the following morning, any such gold, silver, plated ware,
precious or semi-precious stones, bric-a-brac, watches, clocks, jewelry,
china, glassware, works of art, leather goods, or like merchandise.
It shall further be unlawful to conduct any such auction during the
month of December in any year.
SECTION 4. Merchants Qualification and License. No retail
or wholesale merchant or auctioneer shall sell or offer for sale at
public auction to consumers, any stock on hand of hewelry as herein
defined unless he has been engaged in such business in the City of
Paducah continuously for at least one year next preceding such sale,
and such public:.auction shall be held at a place where such merchant
shall have been engaged in such business for at least ninety (90) days
immediately preceding such sale. No such sale at auction shall be
held until he (1) shall have paid to the City Treasurer of the City
of Paducah the license fees which may be now or hereafter levied for
the carrying on of such auction sale, and (2) shall have executed a
bond as herein provided. No such license shall be issued until the
bond hereinafter provided for shall have been executed. (At such sales
only the goods of or for such merchant shall be sold or offered for sale
and it shall be unlawful to sell or offer for sale the goods of any
other person, firm or corporation.)
ff..
SECTION 5. Application For License, Information Required
Every applicant for a license to conduct an auction sale of jewelry,
as hereinabove defined, shall make application to the City Treasurer.
Such application for such license shall set forth the following:
(a) The name, residence address and business address of the
applicant.
(b) The character of business the applicant has been engaged
in during the two years prior to the application.
(c) Whether the proposed auction is to be held at the applicant's
existing regularly established place of business, and
wherein his regular business has been operated for at least
one year prior to the application.
(d) The name and address of each person who will participate in
conducting the said sale by auction.
(e) Whether the applicant will be present and in continuous
attendance at said proposed sale by auction.
(f) Whether any additions to the stock of merchandise proposed
to be sold at said sale by auction have been made within a
period of forty days prior to the date of said application,
and if so he shall furnish a separate inventory thereof
containing all details as in the regular inventory required.
(g) Whether, after filing said application and until the end
of said sale by auction, applicant will make any addition or
permit any additions to be made to the said stock of
merchandise described in the required inventory.
(h) Whether he has conducted or caused to be held any sales by
auction within a period of five years prior to said appli-
cation.
(i) Whether the applicant has owned or conducted, within one year
prior to the said application, any other store or place of
business than the one mentioned as his regular place of
business in the application, and, if so, where such stores
or places of business are located and the character of
business operated in each.
(j) He shall state whether he will himself, and whether he will
require all others participating in the conducting of said
proposed sale by auction, to truly and correctly represent
at all times to all persons attending such auction the
actual facts in respect to quality.
(k) Whether he has attached to said application a true and
correct detailed inventory of the stock of goods, wares and
merchandise proposed to be sold at said sale by auction,
whether he caused the articles in said inventory to be
given a number, and whether he has set forth opposite said
articles the actual cost price thereof to him, and whether
he agrees, in case a license is granted, to attach to said
articles a card or ticket with the number of each article
endorsed thereon corresponding to the inventory number and
the description of the article as required in Section 6 of
this ordinance.
(1) Whether the applicant or any person he proposes to use as
auctioneer or other employee at the proposed auction sale
has been convicted or any violation of any section of this
ordinance within two years prior to said application.
(m) Said application shall be accompanied by a certified copy of
the auctioneer's license required by any statute or ordinance
then in force.
SECTION 6. Inventory, Verification; Information to Purchasers
The applicant shall attach to his application a true and correct detailed
inventory, listing the articles proposed to be sold at said sale by
auction, and shall cause each article described in said inventory to be
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given a number. He shall also set forth opposite the description of said art•cles in
said inventory and before presenting the same, the actual cost price
thereof to him. The applicant shall thereupon duly verify the said application
by his personal oath or affirmation. In case the license is granted, he must,
before the beginning of such sale by auction, attach to each article a card or ticket
with the number of the article endorsed thereon, so that the number of each of
said articles corresponds to the card or ticket number aforesaid.
There shall also appear on the card or ticket attached to each
article, as hereinabove provided, a true and correct statement, written
or printed, in English, of the kind and quality of the metal of which
such articles are made or composed, and the percentage or karat of
purity of such metal. In case such articles are plated or overlaid,
then such card of ticket shall contain a true statement of the kind
of plate and percentage of purity of such plating and the kind of
material or metal covered, and in case of precious or semi-precious
stones, such written statement shall set forth approximately the true
name, weight, quality, and fineness of said stones; and limitations
shall be described as such; and the true names of the manufacturers of
watches and clocks shall be stated in writing; and if parts of the
movements or mechanism thereof be substituted as secondhand or old
movements and offered for sale in new cases, such card or ticker shall
contain a true statement to that effect.
Such card or ticker shall remain securely attached to any such
article of merchandise,and shall be delivered to the purchaser as a
true and correct description and representation of the articles sold.
SECTION 7. Bond. Every such applicant shall execute and file
with the City Treasurer a good and sufficient bond in the sum of Two
Thousand Five Hundred ($2,500.00) Dollars, with the surety thereon a
surety company authorized to do business in the State of Kentucky, and
which bond shall be subject to the approval of the City Manager, and
shall be conditioned upon faithful observance of all the conditions of
this subdivision and shall also indemnify any purchaser at said public
auction who suffers any loss by reason of misrepresentations in said
sale; said bond shall continue in effect until the expiration of the
statute or limitations on all claims secured by said bond. The licensee
shall notify the City Treasurer of any suit filed as a result of the
operations hereby licensed. Any purchaser claiming to have been damaged
by misrepresentation in said auction sale may maintain an action at law
against said licensee, making such misrepresentations, and may join as
party defendant the surety and/or sureties on said bond as herein
provided.
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SECTION 8. When License Not to Issue. No such license shall
under any circumstances be granted to any person within a period of one
year after the termination of such sale by auction by such person held
or conducted hereunder. No person who has been convicted of violating
any of the provisions relating to the conduct of jewelry auctions shall
be granted a license or act as auctioneer or be employed in any manner
at or in connection with any sale or auction licensed hereunder for a
period of five (5) years after such conviction.
SECTION 9. Limitation on Articles to Be Sold. During any such
sale by auction no additions whatsoever shall be made to the stock of
merchandise set forth in the inventory attached to the application for
license, and nothing shall be offered for sale or sold at any such sale
by auction which is an addition to the stock of merchandise described
in said inventory, or which has been added to the applicant's stock
within a period of thirty (30) days prior to the date the applicant
filed application for license. Under no circumstances shall the
inventory offered for sale at auction exceed by fifty (50) percent the
average inventory carried by the applicant over the preceding five-year
period. If applicant has been in business less than five years, the
inventory offered for sale at auction shall not exceed by fifty (50)
percent the average inventory carried for the period of time applicant
has been in business. Any abnormal purchases during the year prior to
the application for license shall be cause for refusal to issue license.
SECTION 10. Misrepresentations. It shall be unlawful for any
licensee, his agents or employees to make any statements which are false
in any particular, or which have a tendency to mislead or to make any
misrepresentations whatsoever with reference to any article sold or
offered for sale during said auction. All representations shall be
considered as warranties.
SECTION 11. Shills, Cappers, Boosters. It shall be unlawful
for any person to act as by -bidder or what is commonly known as a
"capper" or "booster" at any such auction or place, or to offer to make
any false bid or to offer any false bid to but or pretend to buy any
such article sold or offered for sale at any such auction sales.
SECTION 12. Attendance By Owner Required. The person to whom
the license has been granted shall remain in continuous attendance at
all times while such sale by auction is being conducted, and shall be
responsible for any violation of the provisions of the foregoing sections.
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SECTION 13. Suspension, Revocation of License The City Treasurer,
upon the recommendation of the Chief of Police, or upon his own initiative,
may at any time revoke or suspend the license granted under authority of thi
ordinance for any violation of the requirements hereof, or failure to comply
with the terms hereof, or of any law or statute relating to the business so
licensed, including the provisions of the Kentucky Revised Statutes.
SECTION 14. Retroactive Effect. The provisions of this ordinance
shall not be applicable to any acts contract to, or inconsistent
therewith committed or performed prior to the effective date hereof; but
it is the legislative purpose and intent that each and every section or
part or parts of sections hereof shall be applicable to and binding upon
all persons affected thereby from the effective date hereof, even though
any such person shall have obtained licenses, executed bonds, or other-
wise fully complied with lairs or ordinances in conflict herewith.
SECTION 15. Penalties. Any person convicted of a violation
of any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be fined not less than
$100.00 nor more than $500.00 for the first offense, and for each
subsequent offense, not less than $100.00 nor more than $500.00 and
may be imprisoned in the workhouse for not more than 90 days or both.
Each separate sale or offering for sale at public auction of any article
described in Section 1 (a) hereof in violation of the provisions of this
ordinance shall constitute a separate offense hereunder.
SECTION 16. Sevarability. That if any section, paragraph or
provision of this ordinance shall be found to be inoperative, ineffective
or invalid for any cause, the deficiency or invalidity of such section,
paragraph or provision shall not affect any other section, paragraph
or provision hereof, it being the purpose and intent of this ordinance
to make each and every section, paragraph and provision hereof separable
from all other sections, paragraphs and provisions.
SECTION 17. Effective Date. This ordinance shall be in full
force and effect from and after its adoption.
Mayor
Passed by the Board of Commissioners January 2, 19J2
Recorded by Sarah Thurman, City Clerk, January 2, 1962