HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Regulating Billiard Halls ORDINANCE NO. 690
AN ORDINANCE., REGULATING AND LICENSING BILLIARD HALLS
AND PRESCRIBED PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION.
Be It Ordained by the City Council of the City of Ames, Iowa;
Section 1. Definitions. The term "perso_i" when used in this ordinance
shall, in addition to its ordinary meaning, be deemed to embrace partnerships
and corpo-ations. The term "billiard hall" shall embrace "billiard rooms"
and "pool rooms" and any other room or place where one or more billiard or pool
tables are kept for hire.
Section 2. License Required. No billiard hall of any description in which
billiards, pocket billiards or pool are played or which includes any apparatus
or paraphernalia for the playing of billiards, pocket billiards or pool and which
is conducted as a public place of business for profit shall be carried on or main-
tained without a license.
Section 3. Application. Application for said license shall be made to the
Council and filed with the Clerk on blank forms prepared and furnished by the
Council. Said forms shall be so prepared as to furnish the information which
will enable the Council intelligently to grant or refuse the application.
Section 4. Fee and Bond Required. Said application shall be accompani d
by the license fee and bond herein required.
Section 5. License Fee. The license fee for each billiard hall shall be
a minimum of $37.50 per year, payable in advance, for five tables or less, and
an additional fee of $7.50 for each table in excess thereof. If additional tables
are desired during the period of the license, the additional fees must be paid
and a new license issued.
Section 6. Bond. No license shall be issued unless the application is
accompanied by bond to the municipality in the sum of Two Thousand Dollars
($ 2,000.00) signed by the applicant and by a surety company authorized to do
business in this state and approved by said Council.
Section 7. Conditions of Bond. Said bond shall be conditioned;
(a) That there is no material false statement in the application.
(b) That, if the license be issued, the applicant or applicants
will not, during the term of the license, suffer or allow to
be carried on in such hall or in any room, yard, booth,
garden or other place appertaining thereto or connected
therewith any disorderly conduct or suffer or permit such
premises to become disorderly.
(c) That the applicant will not either by any act or conduct of
the owner or by any act or conduct of his agents or employees
violate any provisions of this ordinance or of any act amenda-
tory thereof or supplemental thereto.
Section 8. Causes for Nonissuance of License. The Council shall not
issue a license:
(a) To any person who shall have been convicted of a second off ens
against the provisions -f this ordinance within the last five (5)
years preceding the filing of the application.
2
(b) To any partnership of which a member shall have been con-
victed as provided in the preceding paragraph.
(c) To any person who has been convicted of a felony.
(d) To any partnership of which a member 'nas been convicted
of a felony.
(e) To any person who is not a qualified elector of this state,
except in the case of a corporation, in which case the
manager must be a qualified elector.
(f) To any partnership of which a member is not a qualified
elector of this state.
(g) To any person who is of immoral character o who is a
habitual user of intoxicating liquors or narcotic drugs.
(h) To any partnership of which a member is of immoral
character or a habitual user of intoxicating liquors or
narcotic drugs.
(i) To any corporation of which any officer or director has
been convicted of a second offense against the provisions
of this ordinance within five (5) years preceding the filing
of the application.
(j) To any corporation of which any officer or director has
been convicted of a felony or is of immoral character or
is a habitual user of intoxicating liquors or narcotic drugs
_or is not an elector of this state.
(k) In any case where three licenses have been issued in any
one calendar year under the provisions hereof.
Section 9• Council May Refuse License for Cause. The Council may in
any case for cause refuse to issue the license.
Section 10. Form of License. Upon the vote of the Council to issue the
license, the City Clerk shall issue the same, but no license shall be issued until
the license fee is paid in full. The license shall specify the name of the licenSE e
and the name of the local manager, the specific place where the business is to
be carried on, the number of tables authorized to be operated therein and the
day on which the license shall begin and expire.
Section 11. Date of Expiration. All licenses issued fo_ the purposes
herein provided shall expire on the first day of January each year. License
for which an annual fee is charged will be issued for one-half (1/2) of the annu 1
fee after the first day of July.
Section 12. Place of Business. The location of any proposed billiard
hall shall be approved by the City Council. The place of business shall be
lighted so that all objects are plainly visible at all times, and all booths of sucl.
place of business shall be illuminated to a minimum of ten foot-candles as meas-
ured by a foot-candle meter at a plane of thirty inches abo re the floor and shall
be adequately ventilated and kept clean at all times under inspection of the City
Sanitarian. If the place of business has display windows fronting on a street, no
3
obstruction shall be permitted on the glass or otherwise which would obstruct
a clear view of the interior of the premises. Each such place of business shall
provide separate sanitary toilet rooms for both men and women.
Section 13. Display of License. The license shall be enclosed by the
licensee in a suitable frame having a clear glass face and a substantial wood o
metal back so that the whole of such license may be seen therein and shall be
posted up and at all times displayed in a conspicuous place in the room or place
where the licensed business is carried on so that all persons visiting such room
or place may readily see the same.
Section 14. Unlawful Posting of License. It shall be unlawful for any
person to post such license or to permit it to be posted upon premises other
than those for which the license was issued or to knowingly deface or destroy
any such license.
Section 15. Unlawful Actions of Licensee. It shall be unlawful for a li-
censee or for an employee of the licensee:
(a) To suffer or permit any dice to be thrown for money or for
anything of value or to suffer or permit any raffle or other
game of chance or any form of gambling in the place desig-
nated by the license or in any booth, yard or garden or other
place appertaining to said place or connected therewith.
(b) To suffer or permit the licensed premises to become dis-
orderly.
(c) To suffer or permit any minor to enter or remain in such
billiard room or place.
(d) to keep such billiard room or place open or to operate be-
tween the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. or at any time
on Sunday, except that where in connection with and in a
distinct portion of said billiard room or place a soda fountain,
cigar or ne s stand is ;maintained or other similar business
carried on, the provisions of this subdivision shall not apply
to said portion of such billiard room or to the business of
the :ands indicated therein carried on.
(e) To sell, barter, furnish or possess in such billiard room or
place or in any place appurtenant thereto any intoxicating
liquors, or beer or malt liquors, as defined by Section 124.2,
Code of Iowa, 1946, or to permit any such acts to be done.
(f) To knowingly employ in carrying on the business of such
billiard hall any person who has been convicted of a felony.
Section 16. Acts of Agent. The acts and conduct of the agents and em-
ployees of the licensee in the conduct of said business shall be deemed the acts
and conduct of the licensee.
Section 17. Club Defenses. In prosecutions under this ordinance it
shall be no defense that the premises where the violation is alleged to have
occurred are conducted during prohibited hours as a private club, if at any
other times such premises are conducted as a public place of business. The
provisions of this ordinance shall not apply to the Y. M. C. A., now located on
the College campus.
4
Section 18. Second Conviction. A second conviction for a violation of
any provision of this ordinance.shall, when such judgment becomes final,
automatically act as a revocation of the license and the bond.
Section 19. Revocation. The Council may at any time for cause and on
such reasonable hearing as it may prescribe revoke a license and such revo--a
tion shall be final.
Section 20. Year Limitation. If the license of any licensee be revoked,
no license shall, for at least one year after the revocation, be granted to such
person or to any partnership or corporation of which such person is a member
officer or stockholder.
Section 21. Action on Bond. Upon a second conviction as aforesaid or
when it can be shown the application for the license was materially false in any
particular, the Mayor shall institute action on the bond.
Section 22. Bond Damages. In an action on the bond the amount thereof
shall be conclusively presumed to be liquidated damages.
Section 23. Duplicate Licenses. When a license shall be lost or de-
stroyed without fault on the part of the licensee, his agents or employees, a
duplicate may be issued by the Council at its discretion under such regulations
as it may prescribe and on the payment of a fee of Two Dollars ($2.00).
Section 24. Change of Location. Should a licensee desire to change his
place of business to a new location, the Council may at its discretion and under
such regulations as it may prescribe and on the surren6er of the original li-
cense and the payment of a fee of Two Dollars ($2.00) issue a new license for
the new location.
Section 25. License Nonassignable. No license herein provided for shall
be transferable or assignable, and no refund shall be made o�i revocation or dis-
continuance of business.
Section 26. Penalty. Anyone violating any provision of this ordinance
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished
accordingly. This penalty is in addition to any fees, charges, forfeitures or
other liabilities otherwise imposed.
Section 27. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with the p o
visions of this ordinance are hereby repealed.
Section 28. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and
after its :passage and publication as provided by law.
Passed this 22d day of May 1950.
. W. Prather, City Clerk W. 11. Allan, Mayor
5
May 1, 1950 Moved by Horning, seconded by De La Hunt, that Ordinance No. 690 be passed
on its first reading.
I
Voting Aye: Griffith, Bauge, De La Hunt, Horning, Winfrey, Moore
Voting Nay: None
Mayor declared Ordinance No. 690 passed on its first reading only.
May 15, 1950 Moved by Bauge, seconded by Moore, that Ordinance No. 690 be passed on its
second reading.
Voting Aye: Bauge, De La idunt, Winfrey, Moore
Voting Nay: None
Absent: Griffith, Horning
Mayor declared Ordinance No. 690 passed on its second reading.
May 22, 1950 Moved by Bauge, seconded by Horning, that Ordinance No. 690 be passed on its
final reading.
3
Voting Aye: Griffith, Bauge, De La Hunt, Horning, Winfrey
Voting Nay: None
Absent: Moore
Mayor declared Ordinance No. 690 passed.
I, J. W. Prather, City Clerk of the City of Ames, Iowa, do hereby certify that
the above and foregoing Ordinance No. 690 was duly and properly passed at a
meeting of the City Council on the 22d day of May, 1950, and published in the
Ames Daily Tribune on the 24th day of May, 1950.
a-.-W. rather, City Clerk