Sec. 9-1. - License—Required; fees.

It shall be unlawful for any person to advertise or conduct any sale of goods, wares or merchandise, hereinafter referred to in this chapter as "goods," at retail, that is represented as a bankrupt, insolvent, assignee's, adjuster's trustee's, executor's, administrator's insurance, receiver's, wholesaler's, jobber's, manufacturer's, closing out, closing stock, going out-of-business, retiring from business, liquidation, mortgage or salvage sale, or a sale of goods damages by fire, smoke, water or windstorm, or any other sale which, by representation or advertisement, tends to lead the public to believe that the person conducting such sale is selling out or closing out the goods of any business for less than the current or regular retail price thereof, in the city, without first filing with the department of licenses and inspections the application and inventory provided for by this chapter and obtaining from such department a license, to be known as a "closing out sale license," to advertise or conduct such a sale. The fees for such licenses shall be, and the same are hereby fixed, as follows:

(1)

For a period not exceeding 30 days, $25.00.

(2)

For a period not exceeding 60 days, $50.00.

(3)

For a period not exceeding 90 days, $75.00.

(4)

In addition to the fees fixed by subsections (1), (2) and (3) above, the applicant for such license shall pay an amount equal to $5.00 for each $1,000.00 or fraction thereof, of inventory submitted as provided in the following section.

(5)

Any person conducting a business which is forced to relocate due to termination of a lease resulting from decisions of such person's landlord or other owner of the building in which such business is conducted to raze or renovate such building or resulting from governmental action with respect to such building requiring the relocation of such person's business, shall be exempt from the license fees set forth in subsections (1), (2), (3) and (4) of this section. All other provisions of this chapter shall be applicable to such persons. Any person covered by this subsection shall pay a filing fee of $50.00 with his or her application.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-2. - Same—Application generally.

The applicant for a license required by this chapter shall file with the department of licenses and inspections an application therefor in writing and under oath, giving all the facts in regard to such sale and particularly the place and manner of advertising and conducting the sale, the proposed period of time during which such sale will be conducted, and at the time application is made shall submit to the department of licenses and inspections an investory, containing a complete and accurate list of the stock of goods to be offered for sale or to be sold at any sale for which a license is hereby required, together with an itemized schedule of the wholesale prices of the goods covered by such inventory, and a statement of the name and address of the person from whom such goods were purchased or secured, which inventory, schedule and statement shall be signed by the person applying for such license, or by an authorized agent, and by affidavit at the foot thereof, he or such agent shall swear or affirm that the information therein given is full, complete and true, and known by such affiant to be full, complete and true.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-3. - Same—Transferability; posting; validity as to place and time.

The license required by this chapter shall not be assignable or transferable and shall be kept by the person to whom issued in public view at all times at the place of business where the sale is being conducted. Such license shall be valid only for a sale of goods in the manner and at the time and place set forth and described in the application or inventory submitted.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-4. - Same—Records required of licensees.

It shall be unlawful for any person to whom a license is issued as provided for in this chapter to fail, neglect or refuse to keep accurate records of the articles of goods sold, from which the department of licenses and inspections or any person designated by it for that purpose may ascertain the kind and quantity of goods and the number of same sold, their wholesale cost and the prices at which such goods were sold in such sale.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-5. - Records and files to be kept by city.

All files and records, including the applications for the licenses required by this chapter, inventories, schedules of wholesale prices and other pertinent information, shall be kept by the department of licenses and inspections in convenient form and shall be available for public inspection for a period of two years, after which the same may be destroyed as provided by the charter of the city.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-6. - Authority of department of licenses and inspections to check inventories and merchandise.

The department of licenses and inspections or any person designated by it may in his discretion verify the details of any inventory filed under the provisions of this chapter, for the purposes of determining the correctness of the same, before issuing a "closing out sale license," or may check and verify the items of merchandise sold during the sale. It shall be unlawful for any person to whom such license has been issued to fail or refuse to give such department, or any person designated by it for that purpose, all the facts connected with the stock on hand or the proper information regarding goods sold, or any other information that it may require, in order to make a thorough investigation of all phases connected with the sale.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-7. - Bringing damaged, etc., goods into city for sale.

It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in the sale of any stock of goods within the city which shall have been brought into the city or consigned to any person in the city and which is or was the property of any nonresident bankrupt or nonresident insolvent or the assignee of any nonresident bankrupt or nonresident insolvent, or any stock of goods which has been damaged by fire, smoke, water or windstorm, outside of the city.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-8. - Goods which may be sold.

No goods other than those listed in the inventory provided for in section 9-2 shall be advertised or sold at any sale for which a license is required by this chapter, and it shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer or expose for sale, or advertise for such sale, or to list on such inventory, any goods which are not the regular stock on hand at the store, the goods of which are to be closed out or disposed of through such sale, or to supplement, or to take any replenishments or additions from any manufacturer, jobber, wholesaler, warehouse, storage building or from any other premises, or from any source whatsoever and, during the time thereof, to advertise or represent the sale as being of the character for which a license is hereby required.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-9. - Applicability of chapter to court, etc., sales.

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to trustees selling under deeds of assignment, or to sheriffs, constables or other public or court officers, or to any person acting under the direction or authority of any state or federal court selling goods in the course of their official duties.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Sec. 9-10. - Violations of chapter.

Any person who shall advertise, represent, hold out, conduct, hold or carry on, or continue to do any of the same regarding, any sale of the character regulated by this chapter, without having first obtained a license as provided in this chapter, or who shall violate any of the provisions hereof, or who shall make any false statement in the application and inventory required by this chapter, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before the municipal court shall, beside being liable for the payment of the license fee, be punished as provided in section 1-5 of the city Code.

(Ord. No. 95-076, § 1, 12-14-95)

Secs. 9-11—9-35. - Reserved.