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First reading: Everett considers ordinance to require licensing, inspections and penalties for massage and reflexology businesses
Summary
Assistant City Attorney Lacey Offit presented a first reading of an ordinance to adopt state massage-regulation standards locally, impose business-license and advertising requirements, set operating hours limits, provide inspection authority and local penalties, and outline education and enforcement steps; neighbors urged steps to hold landlords accountable and protect privacy.
At the May 20, 2026 council meeting, Lacey Offit, the city's police legal adviser and an assistant city attorney, presented a first reading of a proposed ordinance to amend Everett municipal code to regulate massage and reflexology businesses.
Offit said the ordinance incorporates provisions from state law (citing RCW chapter 18.108) while adding local tools: requiring a city business license for massage establishments, requiring practitioners to hold current licenses from the Washington State Department of Health, mandating conspicuous display of practitioner credentials, setting advertising standards that require provider name and license number on ads, and prohibiting most businesses from operating between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. "This ordinance is intended to adopt, incorporate, and adapt state law into our local code to provide us some tools to address some of those concerns," Offit said.
The ordinance would make unauthorized practice and certain advertising violations grounds for civil penalties and for revocation of a city business license; it also incorporates state misdemeanor provisions for unlicensed practice and defines additional prohibited acts tied to professional misconduct and to making employees perform illegal acts.
Offit described an inspection process limited to business hours, narrow documentation authority for city inspectors, and an explicit exclusion for home-based or solo practitioners so inspectors would not enter private residences. She said the city plans an education phase for practitioners, multi-department inspections if needed, and a care-team referral process for people encountered during inspections who may need services.
During public comment, Sonia Bodge, a Delta neighborhood resident, said she had walked into several local massage businesses and did not see posted city or state licenses; she told the council she suspected some operations were connected to prostitution and cited an external website that lists local establishments. "I've seen it with my own eyes," she said, and urged the council to adopt strong local tools while balancing privacy concerns.
Council President Scholl asked whether building owners could be held responsible; Offit said a landlord program and landlord outreach are being explored for future code updates or administrative work. Offit and police staff said the ordinance is one step among several, and that an education phase would precede enforcement. Offit said she would return for follow-up briefings and vote weeks later if the council moves forward.
