Chapter 5.36
HOTELS

Sections:

5.36.010    License--Required--Fee.

5.36.020    License--Application requirements.

5.36.030    License--Revocation for violation.

5.36.040    Keeping of register or other records.

5.36.050    False registration unlawful.

5.36.060    Numbering of rooms.

5.36.070    Rental limitation.

5.36.080    Prostitution or immoral practices prohibited.

5.36.090    Acts of agent deemed acts of owner.

5.36.100    Violations -- Misdemeanor -- Gross Misdemeanor -- Civil Infraction.

5.36.010 - License –Required –Fee

It is unlawful for any person, either as owner, lessee, manager or agent, to conduct, keep, manage or operate, or cause to be conducted, kept, managed or operated, any living units or apartment house, excluding duplexes, in the city without first obtaining a license from the city to do so, which shall be known as an apartment license. The fee for such license shall be fifteen dollars per apartment or living unit per year and no such license shall be transferred or assigned. For the purposes of this chapter the word "person" means and includes natural persons, copartnerships, corporations and associations, and persons of both sexes. For the purposes of this chapter, "living unit" means any hotel, motel or lodging house unit which is rented on a month-to-month or specific term basis and for all intents and purposes is being used as an apartment unit.

(Ord. 4419 §2, 1983; Ord. 1553 §1 1918).

5.36.020 - License –Application requirements

The application for a hotel license shall be made in writing to the city clerk-treasurer, and shall set forth the name of the applicant or applicants, the place where the business is to be conducted, by street and number, the number of rooms to be used for sleeping purposes. Such application shall also state whether the applicant is the owner or lessee of the premises so to be used and if he or she is the lessee, the name and address of such owner. The application shall also state the name of the person who is to have the active management of such hotel, rooming house, or lodging house.

(Ord. 1553 §2, 1918).

5.36.030 - License –Revocation for violation

Any license granted as provided in this chapter may be revoked by the city commission for any of the following reasons:

A.    Proof that the owner or operator of the hotel, rooming house, and lodging house is guilty of a violation of any of the laws of the city or state, prohibiting the sale, possession, manufacture, or transportation of intoxicating liquor.

B.    Proof that the owner or operator of the hotel, rooming house, and lodging house has knowingly permitted others to violate any of the laws of the city or state, prohibiting the sale, possession, or manufacture of intoxicating liquor while upon or within the premises for which the license is given.

C.    Proof that any of the provisions of this chapter have been violated.

(Ord. 1693, 1921; Ord. 1553 §3-A, 1918).

5.36.040 - Keeping of register or other records

Every person conducting any hotel, lodging house or rooming house shall at all times keep therein a standard hotel register in which shall be inscribed with ink the name and home address of each and every guest or person renting or occupying a room or rooms therein. The name or names of such guests shall be written upon the register whether by themselves or the person renting such room or rooms, and the proprietor of such hotel, lodging house or rooming house, or his agent, shall thereupon write opposite each name so registered the number of the room or rooms assigned to each guest and the time when the same is rented, whether a.m. or p.m.; and until all of such entries have been made in such register no guest shall be permitted to occupy privately any room in such house. At the time any room or rooms are surrendered it shall be the further duty of such proprietor or his agent to enter the time thereof in the register opposite the name or names of the persons making such surrender. Such register shall be open at all times to the inspection of any guest of such house and any peace officer of the city or the state.

In case a reference book or other record is kept in addition to the standard hotel register, the information herein required, in whole or in part, may be kept in such reference book or record, and all entries therein shall be a part of the hotel, lodging house or rooming house record and shall be subject to the same inspection as the standard hotel register kept.

(Ord. 1553 §5, 1918).

5.36.050 - False registration unlawful

It is unlawful for any person to write or cause to be written in any register in any hotel, lodging house or rooming house any other or different name than the true name of such persons, or the name by which such persons are generally known.

(Ord. 1553 §6, 1918).

5.36.060 - Numbering of rooms

Every person conducting a hotel, lodging house or rooming house shall cause each sleeping room and apartment in such house to be numbered in a plain and conspicuous manner. Such number shall be placed on the outside of the door of the room and no two rooms shall bear the same number.

(Ord. 1553 §9, 1918).

5.36.070 - Rental information

No room in any hotel, lodging house or rooming house shall be rented for sleeping or lodging purposes more than once between the hours of six p.m. and six a.m. of the following day, except to bona fide travelers with baggage.

(Ord. 1553 §8, 1918).

5.36.080 - Prostitution or immoral practices prohibited

It is unlawful for any person in charge of any hotel, rooming house or lodging house, either as owner, agent, manager, clerk, servant or employee to permit the same or any portion thereof to be used as a house of ill fame, brothel, bawdy house, or disorderly house, or permit the same to be used for the purpose of prostitution, fornication or lewdness, or suffer any lascivious cohabitation, adultery, fornication or other immoral practice to be carried on therein.

(Ord. 1553 §4, 1918).

5.36.090 - Acts of agent deemed acts of owner

In the conduct of any hotel, lodging house or rooming house the acts of the agent, servant or employee of the owner thereof shall be deemed to be the acts of the owner, and in addition such agent, servant or employee may be prosecuted for a violation of this chapter.

(Ord. 1553 §10, 1918).

5.36.100 - Violations -- Misdemeanor -- Gross Misdemeanor -- Civil Infraction

A.    Any person, firm, or corporation who knowingly violates or fails to comply with any term or provision of this chapter shall be deemed to have committed a misdemeanor, and if found guilty, shall be subject to a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000), and/or to imprisonment not to exceed ninety (90) days or to both such fine and imprisonment. Each day shall be a separate offense. In the event of a continuing violation or failure to comply, the second and subsequent days shall constitute a gross misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) and/or imprisonment not to exceed three hundred and sixty-five (365) days or both such time and imprisonment. Continuing violation shall mean the same type of violation which is committed within a year of the initial violation.

B.    As an additional concurrent penalty, it shall be a civil infraction for a person, firm, or corporation to violate or fail to comply with any term or provision of this chapter. Each day shall be a separate infraction. A person, firm, or corporation found to have committed a civil infraction shall be assessed a monetary penalty as follows:

1.    First offense: Class 3 ($50), not including statutory assessments.

2.    Second offense arising out of the same facts as the first offense: Class 2 ($125), not including statutory assessments.

3.    Third offense arising out of the same facts as the first offense: Class 1 ($250), not including statutory assessments.

See also OMC Chapter 4.44, Uniform Code Enforcement.

(Ord. 6081 §9, 2001; Ord. 1553 §11, 1918).