§ 30-752. Permit for bellhops and house detectives in hotels.

(a)

Required. It shall be unlawful for any employee of a hotel performing the duty of a bellhop or house detective to continue or begin this employment without first obtaining a permit before entering or continuing upon this employment.

(b)

Application. Each employee and prospective employee as a bellhop or house detective shall file a statement with the department of police to the effect that such person is or expects to be employed in one of the employments named, stating such person's correct name and giving such person's address, together with such person's age and former employment, and any other information required by the police chief. The application shall be in writing and shall be filed with the police chief. The statement or application shall have endorsed thereon a statement or shall be accompanied by a letter signed by three reputable citizens, not related by blood or marriage to the applicant, who are residents of the city, none of whom have any interest in the hotel where the employee is to work or serve, attesting to the good character of the applicant.

(c)

Investigation; issuance or denial. Upon the filing of an application for a permit under subsection (b) of this section, the police chief shall fingerprint each applicant and cause an investigation to be made as to the good character of the applicant and shall issue a permit or deny the application for cause. If the police chief denies the application for a permit, the action shall be appealable to the license review board within ten days after notice of the denial. Upon the receipt of notice of appeal, the board shall fix a time and place for a public hearing thereon. At the public hearing testimony shall be heard for or against the granting of the permit. After the hearing, the board shall make its favorable or unfavorable report to the mayor at its next regular meeting, and the mayor shall either adopt or reject the report of the board. However, the mayor, license review board or police chief shall have no authority to issue a permit to any applicant who has been convicted of any of the following enumerated offenses, federal or state: murder, voluntary manslaughter, mayhem, rape, indecent molestation of children, assault and battery, kidnapping, stabbing and shooting, blackmail, sending or delivering threatening letters, peeping Tom, eavesdropping, drugs, prostitution, procuring for prostitution, unlawful alcoholic beverages sales, white slavery, burglary, robbery, theft, sex perversion or any section of this Code or other city ordinance dealing with prostitution or procuring for prostitution committed not more than five years prior to the date of application for a permit or five years from the termination of any penal servitude by the applicant for a conviction of any of such crimes, whichever shall have last occurred.

(d)

Issuance. If an application is approved by either the police chief, license review board or mayor, the police chief shall issue a permit to the applicant.

(e)

Employing person without permit. The manager and person in charge of the hotel are prohibited from employing any person who is denied a permit under this section, and any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of an offense and upon conviction the license to operate the hotel where the person is employed shall be subject to revocation by the mayor.

(f)

Prohibited acts. It shall be unlawful for any bellboy or house detective to continue in or enter upon the employment provided in subsection (a) of this section in violation of this section. It shall further be unlawful and shall be grounds for the revocation of or refusal to issue the permit if, in filing the statement, a fictitious name or address or any false information is given by the applicant. It shall be unlawful for the manager or person in charge of any hotel to fail to keep a book or list showing the correct name and address of employees or to refuse to exhibit it to any member of the department of police under penalty of subjecting the license to operate the hotel wherein the offense occurred to revocation by the mayor.

(g)

Revocation. Any bellhop or house detective issued a permit under this section who shall subsequently be convicted of any of the offenses set forth in subsection (c) of this section shall be subject to revocation of the permit after notice and hearing. For the purposes of this subsection notice and hearing shall consist of a written notice of a hearing for revocation setting forth the grounds for the revocation, mailed to the last known address of the licensee ten days prior to a hearing upon the revocation before the license review board. Upon proof of the charges before the license review board, the board shall revoke the permit.

(Code 1977, § 14-6175)