[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Norwood
as Sec. 4-3 of the Revised General Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
The proposed operator, whether as owner-operator or by lease or any
other kind of arrangement, of one or more amusement or entertainment machines
or devices displayed for public patronage or placed or kept for operation
by the public within the borough. Under this section, the term "applicant"
shall not include the owner of the aforesaid amusement or entertainment machines
or devices unless said owner shall also be the operator thereof.
Any automatic, mechanical or electronic game, contrivance or device
or skill or entertainment, which is or are operated or set in motion by the
deposit therein of any coin or coins, tokens or slugs or the like thereof,
purchased for cash. This term shall include any device which registers a score
or not and shall further include, without limitation, such devices as pinball
machines, bagatelle machines, pong or other types of electronically operated
game devices, skill-ball, mechanical games, operation of transactions similar
to, by whatever name they may be called. Excluded from this definition are
music vending machines, commonly known as "jukeboxes," as well as "vending
machines."
Any natural person, partnership, firm, association, corporation or
any other business entity which, being the operator or owner-operator of one
or more amusement or entertainment machines or devices displayed for public
patronage or placed or kept for operation by the public within the borough,
has qualified as an applicant under this chapter and to which a license has
been issued hereunder.
Any natural person, partnership, firm, association, corporation or
any other business entity which leases, rents out or places under any kind
of arrangement, within the borough, one or more amusement or entertainment
machines or devices displayed for public patronage or placed or kept for operation
by the public.
Any natural person, partnership, firm, association, corporation or
any other business entity which owns or controls premises or a location within
the borough in which any amusement or entertainment machine or device, which
is owned by said natural person, partnership, firm, association, corporation
or any other business entity, is displayed for public patronage or is placed
or kept for operation by the public.
A.Â
General. No person shall install, place, maintain or
operate, in any store, place of business, building, public place or quasi-public
place wherein the public is invited or may enter, any coin-operated amusement
device or entertainment device within the limits of the borough without first
applying for or obtaining a license therefor for each and every coin-operated
amusement or entertainment device to be installed, placed, maintained or operated.
B.Â
Exemption. Notwithstanding anything contained in this
chapter to the contrary, there is hereby exempted from the aforementioned
licensing fee requirements all organizations, associations and corporations
not for profit, organized pursuant to the provisions of Title 15 of the New
Jersey Revised Statutes or otherwise, whose primary activity is religious,
educational, eleemosynary or fraternal; provided, however, that such organizations,
associations and corporations shall not maintain, place or install more than
three coin-operated amusement devices in or about any single premises or location.
A.Â
Maximum number of licenses. No more than three licenses
shall be issued for the placement, installation, maintenance, operation or
possession of coin-operated amusement devices in or about any single premises
or location.
B.Â
License fees. A license fee of $200, for each device
licensed hereunder, shall be payable annually by the licensee.
C.Â
Information required.
(1)Â
Applications for said license shall contain the following
information:
(a)Â
The name, date and place of birth, home address and the
home telephone number and the business telephone of the applicant and each
of its stockholders, officers, directors and each partner, member or principal.
(b)Â
The name and address of the registered agent of the applicant
or person upon whom service of process is authorized to be made.
(c)Â
The name, date and place of birth, home address and telephone
number of the manager or other agent of the applicant who shall be in charge
of or conduct the business of the applicant, within the borough.
(d)Â
With respect to each person whose name is listed on the
license application, the fact of whether or not said person was ever convicted
of any crime, whether by or without jury, by plea in any jurisdiction of an
offense which, under the laws of the state, is denominated as a misdemeanor
or high misdemeanor or an offense involving moral turpitude with full disclosure
of the nature of the offense, the time and place of commission, legal proceedings
in connection therewith and punishment or penalty.
(e)Â
The type and premise location of each machine or device
to be operated under the license applied for.
(f)Â
If the applicant is a corporation, a corporation resolution,
in proper form, authorizing the execution of the license application on behalf
of the said corporation.
(g)Â
A certification, under oath, made by the applicant, that
the information contained in the application and all attachments thereto is
complete, accurate and truthful to the best of his knowledge and belief.
(2)Â
All applications shall be accompanied by the license
fee as set forth herein.
(3)Â
Upon receipt of an application, the Borough Administrator
shall promptly forward a copy of the application and accompanying materials
to the Chiefs of the Police and Fire Departments and the Building Official
for investigation, review and report.
A.Â
Licensing standards.
(1)Â
Upon receipt of all reports and information, in accordance
with the standards and requirements set forth, the Borough Administrator may
grant or refuse the license or may grant the license as to one or more but
not all of the coin-operated amusement or entertainment devices and refuse
the license as to the rest. If the license is granted, the Borough Administrator
shall forthwith issue the license.
(2)Â
The Borough Administrator shall ensure that the license
application and attachments thereto are complete, accurate and truthful and
that those persons whose names are required to be disclosed on the license
application are all persons capable of owning, controlling and conducting
the proposed business of owning and/or operating amusement or entertainment
devices within the borough in a manner consistent with the public safety,
good morals and general welfare of the community; that all those persons whose
names are required to be disclosed on the license application can reasonably
be expected to own, control and manage or operate the proposed business in
accordance with the applicable laws, ordinances, rules and regulations and
free from any gambling, immoral or illegal conductor activity and free from
unnecessary or unwanted noise or commotion, no criminal element is in direct
or indirect control or management of the business of the applicant; that the
granting of the application and the issuance of the license thereunder will
promote a fair and competitive market for the operation of amusement or entertainment
machines or devices within the borough; that the granting of the application
and the issuance of the license thereunder will not create an unwarranted
burden on the law enforcement officers or agencies and that the applicant
has properly executed all agreements and consent required by this chapter
and has agreed to conduct his business in accordance with all the requirements
of this chapter and all other applicable laws, ordinances, rules and regulations.
No operator's license shall be granted hereunder unless the licensed
premises shall meet all requirements of all fire regulations and the Housing,
Building, Sanitary, Electric and Plumbing Codes of the borough.[1]
B.Â
License denial and appeal. In the event the Borough Administrator
determines that such application does not meet the standards set forth above,
the license shall be denied. Upon the Borough Administrator's denying
any application, the unsuccessful applicant shall have the right to appeal
such a denial to the Mayor and Council within 10 days of receipt of written
denial, by a written notice of appeal served upon the Borough Administrator.
The Mayor and Council shall schedule a hearing on such appeal within 30 days
after such hearing.
C.Â
Transferability; refunds. No license issued pursuant
to this chapter is transferable, and no license fee shall be refunded upon
the revocation or surrender of any license.
A.Â
License cards issued pursuant to this chapter shall specify
the location of the premises of which the licensed coin-operated amusement
device is to be used or kept, a brief description of the device, the device's
number or other means of identification and the name and address of the owner
and lessee or bailee of said device.
B.Â
All license cards issued pursuant to this chapter shall
be posted and at all times displayed in a conspicuous place at or near the
licensed device.
C.Â
All licenses issued pursuant to this chapter shall expire
on December 31 of each year. Upon the expiration of the license, the holder
shall surrender the license card forthwith to the Borough Administrator.
A.Â
Any licensee who shall suffer, permit or approve of the
use of any coin-operated amusement device for gambling purposes shall be deemed
to be guilty of violating this subsection.
B.Â
It shall be unlawful to install, maintain and use any
such coin-operated amusement device for the purpose of giving, directly or
indirectly, any prize, return or profit for the use of such device.
Every license issued hereunder is subjected to revocation by the governing
body should the owner-operator or operator operate any amusement or entertainment
machine or device contrary to the provisions of this chapter or the standards
set forth herein for the issuance of a license. Any material misstatement
or omission in the license application and any information submitted therewith
shall constitute sufficient grounds for revocation of said license. The Mayor
and Council, through the Borough Administrator, shall serve upon the licensee
notification of intention to revoke the license and advise the licensee that
he has 10 days from receipt of the notification to request a formal hearing.
In the event that no formal hearing is requested, then the Mayor and Council
shall be authorized, after said ten-day period, to revoke the license. In
the event that the licensee does request a hearing, then he shall be entitled
to a hearing before the Mayor and Council and give testimony and produce witnesses
as he shall deem appropriate. The Mayor and Council shall listen to all witnesses
and testimony that it deems relevant and shall render a decision as to whether
or not the license should be revoked.
Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be liable to the penalty stated in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article II.