Green Bay City Council gives first approval to ordinance licensing those who provide massage therapy
GREEN BAY - The City Council has been trying for years to pass an effective law that would reduce prostitution occurring in the city.
On Tuesday night, council members took a step a majority believe will make it easier for police to charge those exchanging sex for money and possibly shut down the massage parlors where those people work.
The council spent about an hour Tuesday discussing a proposal to license professionals who provide massage therapy similar to the way the city licenses bartenders. Three members of the council wanted to return the proposal to Protection & Policy Committee members to improve the wording, but an eight-member majority voted to approve the measure.
The approval would require a second reading by the council before the rule could become a local ordinance. Once there has been a second reading, "if you have a massage business under the ordinance, you'd be guilty of violating" the licensing requirement, said City Attorney Joanne Bungert.
Wisconsin requires massage therapists to be licensed.
"It's taken longer than we ever knew it would," Chris Wery said of the time he and his fellow council members spent on the ordinance. "I don't see a reason to send it back" to committee.
Council member Jim Hutchison, however, said some additional time in committee "might help out the police department" if the council was able to make the proposed language stronger. He was one member of the council who voted to send the proposed ordinance back to committee, joining Bill Galvin and Mark Steuer.
Several council members said they'd received complaints about several Military Avenue businesses rumored to be places where prostitution occurs. Others believe human trafficking has occurred in the city.
The proposal attracted nearly a dozen licensed massage therapists to the council meeting. Several objected to the bartender comparison; others groaned when an alderman used the term "masseuse." They pointed out that becoming a licensed massage therapist requires significantly more training than a bartender, as well as a state-issued license.
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"We are truly medical-health professionals," said Jamie Ehmer of Green Bay. "A liquor license doesn't require 600 hours of training. Chiropractors, PTs, OTs (and other medical professionals) don't want to be lumped (with people who serve drinks). We ask that you reconsider (the wording of the ordinance). We can work with you on that."
Email Doug Schneider at DSchneid@greenbaypressgazette.com, call him at (630) 373-0799, and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay council gives first approval to massage therapy ordinance
