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Council to move business-license appeals to administrative review and tighten license enforcement language
Summary
Legal staff proposed changes to business-license chapters to shift appeals from City Council to administrative review by the city administrator, clarify bond requirements for certain businesses, require massage therapists to hold state licenses on-site, and explore fee restructuring to recover application review costs.
Legal counsel and development-services staff outlined proposed revisions to municipal code chapters governing business licenses, saying the changes are intended to streamline appeals and clarify enforcement. Heather Schriever said appeals for denials, suspensions or revocations would be handled administratively by the city administrator or designee rather than being heard by the City Council; applicants dissatisfied with the administrative determination could pursue court review.
Council also reviewed bond requirements for specified business categories (examples noted in the draft included $1,000 bonds for employment agencies, auctioneers, and messenger services and $2,000 bonds for lending institutions) and discussed intent language and forfeiture standards. Staff proposed requiring massage therapists to maintain a state license on the premises and allowing routine compliance checks by enforcement officers. Patrick O’Brien and Ms. Schriever said staff will prepare clearer intent language and fee models—potentially splitting fees into an application component and an issuance component—to ensure administrative review costs are recovered.
