[Adopted 2-24-1937 by Ord. No. 6-1937]
No person or persons, association, partnership, firm or corporation shall hereafter in the City of Atlantic City keep, conduct or maintain any building, structure, yard or place for keeping, storing or piling in commercial quantities, whether temporarily, irregularly or continually, or for the buying or selling, or dealing in by weight, piece or quantity, or otherwise, at retail or wholesale, any old, used or secondhand materials of any kind, including cloth, rags, clothing, paper, rubbish, bottles, glass, rubber, iron, brass, copper or other metal, furniture, newspapers, magazines, cardboard, rags of cotton, wool or mixed, carpets, bagging, hair, feathers, mattresses, automobile tubes, used motor vehicles or the parts thereof, and other articles which from their worn condition renders them practically useless for the purpose for which they were made and which is commonly classed as junk, whether with a fixed place of business or as an itinerant peddler, without first having obtained and paid for a license as hereinafter provided. One carrying on the aforesaid business shall be referred herein to as "junk dealer."
Any person or persons, association, partnership, firm or corporation buying or selling at retail or wholesale, or dealing in by weight, piece or quantity, or otherwise, any of the materials itemized above from any peddler, gatherer or scavenger of said material, or from any person not engaged in the junk business, shall be construed to be a "junk dealer" under the terms of this article and shall be subject to its terms and conditions.
A. 
Information required. Every applicant for a license to engage in the business of junk dealer shall file with the Director of Revenue and Finance a written application upon a form prepared and provided by the City, signed by the applicant or applicants. Said application shall state:
(1) 
The names and residences of the applicants if an individual, partnership or firm, or the names of the principal officers and their residences if the applicant is an association or corporation.
(2) 
The length of time such applicant or applicants if an individual, firm or partnership, or the manager or person in charge if the applicant is a firm or corporation, has or have resided in the City of Atlantic City, his or their places of previous employment, whether married or single, whether he or they, or any of them, have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor and, if so, what offense, when and in what court.
(3) 
Whether the applicant or applicants or officers or manager of the applicant had been employed by a junk dealer or had been a junk dealer.
(4) 
The detailed nature of the business to be conducted and the kind of materials to be collected, bought, sold or otherwise handled.
(5) 
The premises where such business is to be located or carried on.
B. 
Notary public signature. Every application for a license to engage in the business of junk dealer shall be signed and acknowledged before a notary public or other officer authorized to administer oaths in the State of New Jersey.
The Director of Revenue and Finance shall report such application to the Chief of Police, Health Officer, Fire Chief and Superintendent of Buildings, who shall inspect or cause to be inspected such premises to determine whether it complies with all laws, ordinances, rules and regulations. Said premises and all structures thereon shall be so situated and constructed that the business of junk dealer may be carried on in a sanitary manner, shall contain no fire hazards and shall be arranged so that a thorough inspection may be made at any time by the proper health, fire, building and police authorities.
A. 
Upon the filing of the application, as provided in the preceding section, the Director of Revenue and Finance shall, upon his approval of such application, after investigation and the payment to the City of the license fee hereinafter provided, issue to the applicant a license to engage in business as provided in § 158-7. All licenses shall be numbered in the order in which they are issued and shall state clearly the location of the junk business, the date of issuance and expiration of the license and the name and address of the licensee.
B. 
No license as a junk dealer shall be granted to any person, persons or the members or officers of associations, partnership or corporations who shall have been convicted within five years of the date of application of a violation of this article; nor to any person who has within five years of the date of application been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor; provided, however, that if, in the judgment or discretion of the Director of Revenue and Finance, the applicant or applicants are fit persons to hold such license, then the provisions of this section notwithstanding, said Director of Revenue and Finance may issue to such person or persons a license as a junk dealer.
A. 
Every holder of a junk dealer's license shall at all times keep said license posted while in force in a conspicuous place on the premises described in the application for such license. It shall be unlawful for any person to post it upon the premises other than those mentioned in the application, or knowingly to deface or destroy any such license.
B. 
Each vehicle, wagon and cart kept or used by a junk dealer in the exercise of his license shall be marked on both sides with his or its name, the street and number of the place of business, the words "junk dealer" and "Atlantic City, New Jersey," and the number corresponding to the number of his license in plain letters and figures at least two inches high and of such color as to be plainly read at a distance of 60 feet.
C. 
Every licensed junk dealer shall have and keep a sign on the outside and in front of each of his or its places of business, on which shall be clearly set forth in conspicuous letters his or its name, the words "junk dealer" and the number corresponding to the number or his or its license.
Every junk dealer's license shall designate the place of business in or from which the junk dealer receiving such license shall be authorized to carry on such business. No licensee shall remove his or its place of business from the place designated in the license until a written permit has been secured from the City of Atlantic City and the same shall have been endorsed upon the license. All signs required by § 158-12 of this Article shall be altered to contain the new address.
A. 
No junk dealer shall carry on the business at or from any other place than the one designated in the license therefor, nor shall said business be carried on after such license has been revoked or has expired.
B. 
No junk dealer shall make any purchase from any person or receive any articles except between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., standard time. No purchase or receipt of any goods shall take place on Sundays and holidays.
C. 
No junk dealer shall purchase or acquire from any person under the age of 21 years any junk, other than old rags or paper, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian of such person. No item shall be acquired from any intoxicated person.
D. 
The contents of the premises of every junk dealer shall be arranged in an orderly manner with all similar things located together so as to facilitate inspection by the proper authorities. The premises of every junk dealer shall be subject to inspection by the proper municipal authorities at any time.
E. 
All articles received, except old paper and rags, shall be retained for at least 48 hours before disposal or before such articles are broken or otherwise changed from the condition in which they were at the time of purchase or their identity otherwise destroyed. Payment shall not be made for any junk purchased, except paper and rags, until at least 24 hours after the time when said articles have been received by the junk dealer, and then payment shall only be made between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon so as to permit police investigation. However, where the person from whom junk is purchased is personally known to the junk dealer and said person's residence or place of business is likewise known, then the restriction as to the time of payment shall not apply. If said person from whom junk is purchased cannot be found at the residence or place of business shown on the record of the junk dealer, this fact shall be considered prima facie proof that said person was not personally known to the junk dealer.
F. 
No junk dealer shall purchase or otherwise acquire bottles or glass from bottles owned or used by any individual, firm or corporation engaged in the dairy business in the City of Atlantic City except from the legal owner of such bottles. Every junk dealer shall report to the Chief of Police of the municipality within two hours the fact that such bottles or glass were presented or offered to such junk dealer for sale or other disposition.
The Health Officer may formulate reasonable rules and regulations relating to the conduct of the business of junk dealing which shall protect the health of the community. No junk dealer shall violate any such rule or regulation.
A. 
Each junk dealer shall keep, in such form as may be prescribed by the Department of Public Safety and written in ink or indelible pencil, a daily record, in the English language, of articles purchased, including an accurate description, the name and residence of the person from whom each article was purchased and the name of the employer of such person, if any; also the day and hour of such purchase and the price paid. The records shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of any police officer or the Director of Public Safety, Chief of Police, or any person duly authorized in writing for such purpose by the Chief of Police, who shall exhibit such authorization to the junk merchant, his agent or employee. No entry in such records shall be changed, erased, obliterated or defaced.
B. 
In the case of motor vehicles or parts thereof, there shall be kept, in addition, a personal description of the person from whom purchased and a complete description of the purchase. When parts of motor vehicles are purchased as a complete unit and are capable of reuse, in the same form, this description shall include the trade name and the motor body, axle, coil, starter, carburetor, magneto, steering gear, radiator, and manufacturers' numbers and any other serial number, the style of body, model, color, and license number. When parts of motor vehicles are bought in bulk, as metal junk, said description may be general in its character.
C. 
In purchasing junk from any person or persons delivering said junk by any vehicle, wagon or cart, the dealer shall, in addition to writing down the information above mentioned, make a record of the motor vehicle registration number or municipal license number of the wagon or cart.
It shall be the duty of every junk dealer to deliver or cause to be delivered to the Chief of Police or his representative, every day except Sunday, before the hour of 11:00 a.m., on blank forms to be prescribed by the Department of Public Safety of Atlantic City, a legible and correct transcript from the book or books provided for showing the information provided for in this Article. Such other information shall be supplied as the Chief of Police may require. All reports required in this Article shall be signed at the bottom by the licensee or his duly authorized representative. The Chief of Police shall cause a record to be kept of all such reports, showing the date and time each report is received, the licensee making the report, his license number and his address.
No licensee, either acting for himself or itself or by or through him or its agent or employee, shall wreck, tear down, paint or otherwise destroy the identity of, or dispose of or allow to be taken out of his or its possession, any secondhand motor vehicle, part or accessory capable for reuse as such, in its same form, purchased or otherwise secured by, or left for sale with him or it until five days after the report provided in § 158-17 has been made to the Chief of Police, provided, however, that the Chief of Police may, after proper report is made to him, grant a special permit to a licensee permitting a secondhand motor vehicle, part or accessory, in such special permit properly described, to be sold or disposed of and delivered to another when the Chief of Police has investigated and determined that there is no question as to the ownership of such secondhand motor vehicle, part or accessory.
No person shall knowingly buy, sell, receive, dispose of, conceal or have in his possession any motor vehicle, part or accessory from which the manufacturer's serial number or any other number or identification mark has been removed, defaced, covered, altered or destroyed for the purpose of concealing or misrepresenting the identity of such vehicle, part or accessory. Every person to whom is offered for sale, storage or wreckage any motor vehicle, part or accessory from which has been removed, defaced, altered or destroyed the manufacturer's serial number or any other number or identification mark shall, within two hours, notify the Chief of Police of such offer.
Every junk dealer, upon being served with a written notice to do so by a member of the Police Department, shall in addition to the reports above provided for report to the Chief of Police, on blank forms to be furnished by the Police Department, an accurate description of all goods, articles or things purchased or received by him in the course of business of a junk merchant at such time and during such period of time specified in the notice, stating the amount paid for and the name, residence and general description of the person from whom such goods, articles or things were received.
If any goods, articles or things whatsoever shall be advertised in any newspaper printed in the city as having been lost or stolen and the same, or any answering the description advertised or any part or portion thereof, shall be or come into possession of any junk merchant or peddler, he or it shall give information thereof, in writing to the Chief of Police, and state from whom the same was received. Any junk merchant or peddler who shall have or receive any goods, articles or things lost or stolen, or alleged or supposed to have been lost or stolen, shall exhibit the same on demand to any police officer or the Director of Public Safety, Chief of Police, or any person duly authorized in writing by the Chief of Police, who shall exhibit such authorization to such dealer or peddler.
Every person or persons, association, partnership, firm or corporation engaged in the businesses as referred to in this Article shall pay an annual license fee of $300, which said license fee shall be due and payable to the Department of Revenue and Finance at its office in the City Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, on the first day of July in each year, and all such licenses shall expire on the 30th day of June following.
A. 
Upon complaint being made in writing by any municipal official or resident of the city to the Director of Revenue and Finance that any licensee has violated any of the provisions of this Article, the Director of Revenue and Finance shall summon such licensee to appear before him at the time specified in the summons, which shall be not less than three days after the date of the service thereof, to show cause why his license shall not be revoked. The Director of Revenue and Finance shall proceed to hear the matter and if he finds that the allegations of said complaint are correct and disclose a violation of this Article or any part hereof, he may revoke or suspend said junk dealer's license.
B. 
Whenever any license shall be so revoked or suspended, no refund of any unearned portion of the fee therefor shall be made. The Director of Public Revenue and Finance may, in his discretion should he deem the person or persons unfit to hold a license, withhold a license from any person, firm, partnership, association or corporation, whose license has been so revoked within a period of five years from the date of such revocation. Notice of such revocation and the reason or reasons therefor in writing shall be served upon the person, firm, partnership, association or corporation named in the application by mailing the same to the address given in the application and upon filing a copy of the same with the Director of Revenue and Finance.
[Amended 2-1-1989 by Ord. No. 2-1989; 11-25-2008 by Ord. No. 104]
Any person convicted of a violation of any provision of this article shall be imprisoned in the county jail or in any place provided by the municipality for the detention of prisoners for a period not exceeding 90 days or pay a fine not exceeding $2,000 or both.