City regulates secondhand item sales

Commission passed a controversial ordinance regulating business owners who buy and sell certain secondhand items in an effort to curb the market for stolen goods.

The ordinance, which passed unanimously with little fanfare or discussion, drew the ire of some in the business community last year who saw it as another example of a commission that wasn’t business friendly.

The comments on the issue prompted city and Albany Police Department officials to hold two hearings with the business owners to hear their concerns, answer questions and accept suggestions on ways to improve the measure.

City Attorney Nathan Davis said that the ordinance adopted Tuesday, which is posted at www.albanyherald.com, includes items that address some of the major concerns brought by the business community.

“There is a new piece of software at the police department that allows for electronic reports, which would cut down on the hold time to 14 days,” Davis said.

The original ordinance required store owners who buy or accept certain valuable secondhand items such as appliances, lawn equipment and jewelry to keep a log on who they bought the items from and then hold the items for 30 days so that if any were discovered by investigators to be stolen, it could be returned to the owner.

Business owners quickly objected, saying that holding items for that length of time was impractical and, in some cases, a threat to their bottom lines.

The ordinance requires store owners to collect personal information from those who are selling the covered items listed, including the seller’s address, driver’s license number and license plate information.

It also requires daily reports be filed with the police department.

After months of little discussion or movement on the issue, the ordinance quietly resurfaced on last week’s work session agenda and was lumped into an agenda item called “Ordinances to complement the recent re-codification” that the commission sailed through without discussion.

The item reappeared on the commission’s agenda for Tuesday’s business meeting under its own listing.