Ashwaubenon committee forwards escort-service and massage-establishment ordinances to Village Board

The Village of Ashwaubenon Public Works and Protection Committee on Feb. 3 reviewed two companion ordinances that would separate and update local regulation of escort-type services and massage establishments and voted to forward both ordinances to the Village Board for adoption.

Staff member Joel told the committee the proposals repeal and recreate the existing Chapter 6, Article 8 provisions, placing escort-type licensing and massage-establishment rules in separate code sections to allow clearer, modernized regulation. Joel said the escort-service draft would require establishments to register and businesses and individual agents to submit paperwork, photo identification and fingerprinting; it would prohibit transfers or operation under undisclosed trade names and would restrict certain activities in residential zoning.

Regarding massage establishments, Joel said state law now licenses individual massage technicians and prevents municipal licensing of technicians, so the draft removes the village requirement to license technicians and instead requires establishments that operate from a physical location to register with the village so staff may verify that the technicians they employ hold the required state licenses. The ordinance text also proposes conditions such as limits on hours of operation (staff cited a proposed 9 p.m. closing time), inspection authority for health and safety during hours of operation, annual licensing on a Jan. 1–Dec. 31 schedule with an initial prorated year, and appeals of committee denials to the Village Board.

Public safety staff explained inspections would permit verification that technicians hold current state licenses and that rooms meet health and safety standards, but would not authorize staff to seize client receipts or client names for privacy reasons. On the escort-service side, Joel said local registration and inspection aims to provide the village a means of enforcement where unregulated activity might otherwise be difficult to detect; he also said unregulated activity can be ‘‘an underground network’’ and cautioned that if certain acts occur they are illegal under Wisconsin law.

After discussion and questions about quotas, enforcement discretion and implementation timelines, a committee member moved to adopt the ordinances as presented and forward them to the Village Board; the committee voted in favor.

Note on transcript redaction: the meeting transcript censors a term with asterisks ("******") in places where committee discussion clearly referenced escort-type services. This article uses the phrase "escort services" and "escort-type" to reflect the subject discussed in committee and the regulatory function described in the draft ordinances.