Batavia hopes massage-biz license rules will discourage shady operators
Batavia aldermen hope that the amount of paperwork to get a city license for a bodywork business will discourage the kind of operators that make their money off prostitution in the guise of massage.
Under a proposed new law, bodywork businesses would have to get a city license.
The owners would have to fill out very detailed applications that include criminal background information about the owners, including people or corporations that own as little as 5 percent of the business.
Licenses could be denied if owners or agents have convictions for crimes related to illicit drug use, sexual crimes, violent crimes or dishonesty.
"We don't want to be a burden on legitimate massage therapy and legitimate business in town, and yet we want a strong hammer to keep out illegitimate business," Kevin Drendel, the city's attorney, said at Tuesday's committee-of-the-whole meeting.
The business could lose its license if any of its employees are found to do illegal, sexually oriented acts on or with patrons.
The proposed law would prohibit employees or owners from living at the business.
One of two women arrested several weeks ago at a Batavia massage parlor in a downtown strip shopping center was living in the spa.
In St. Charles, a woman accused of prostitution earlier this year appeared to be living at the business, according to testimony by police.
It would require the business' front door to be unlocked when the business is open.
At the two spas where the women were arrested, the doors were locked and patrons were asked to ring a doorbell.
The law also sets forth requirements for being able to see in to the business' windows, and would prohibit locks on treatment rooms or cubicles.
And it would require owners to maintain a register so that the city can check their employees and independent contractors, including their immigration status, state licensure, home address and state-issued photo identification.
The city developed the ordinance after a woman applied to open a massage spa downtown on Wilson Street. Aldermen and massage therapists who live in Batavia were highly skeptical that the proposed business would operate legally.
The therapists pointed out that the home address listed on the owner's state massage license was the same as the address of a spa in Springfield that advertised on online sites devoted to sexually-oriented massages.
The law would not apply to medical practices, physical therapy businesses and other places where massage is conducted as part of medical treatment, conducted or supervised by state-licensed employees.
Tuesday's vote was a recommendation.
An official vote will be taken at a city council meeting.