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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 7053 ORDINANCE NO. 7053 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 32 OF THE FORT WORTH CITY CODE (1964) , BEING A CHAPTER REGU- LATING SOLICITATIONS FOR CHARITABLE, PATRIOTIC, EDUCATIONAL OR PHILANTHROPIC PURPOSES IN THE CITY OF FORT WORTH; PROVIDING FOR THE TRANS- FER OF THE DUTIES AND AUTHORITY OF THE SECRE- TARY OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH TO THE CONSUMER AFFAIRS DIRECTOR OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH; PROVIDING FOR THE FILING OF AN APPLICATION FOR A CHARITABLE SOLICITATIONS PERMIT WITH THE CONSUMER AFFAIRS DIRECTOR; LIMITING FUND RAISING EXPENSE TO TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT OF THE AMOUNT COLLECTED; PROVIDING THAT THE PER- MIT SHALL BE ISSUED UNLESS THE APPLICANT FAILS TO MEET PRESCRIBED STANDARDS; REQUIRING FINAN- CIAL AND ACCOUNTING REPORTS FROM PERMIT HOLDERS; MAKING THIS ORDINANCE CUMULATIVE OF PRIOR ORDI- NANCES; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES AND PROVISIONS OF THE FORT WORTH CITY CODE IN CONFLICT HERE- WITH; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVID- ING A PENALTY; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1. That Chapter 32, Section 32-2, of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 32-2. Same -- Internal organization; duties. The Commission shall elect a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman from its members and shall adopt rules and regulations for the conduct of its busi- ness. The Consumer Affairs Director or his dele- gate shall serve as Secretary of the Commission. Four members of the Commission, exclusive of the Secretary, shall constitute a quorum for the trans- action of business. No applicant for a permit to conduct a charitable solicitations campaign on the streets and in public places in the City of Fort Worth, Texas, shall be either granted or refused without due notice and hearing. No hearing on any such application shall be held unless and until the applicant shall have been given at least ten days notice in writing of the date, time, place and purpose of such hearing. All parties testi- fying at such hearing shall be placed under oath by the Chairman or the Secretary of the Commis- sion. In general, the rules of evidence in force in the district and county courts in the State of Texas shall be followed. Each party at such hear- ing shall be given full opportunity to present evidence and witnesses to support his contentions and he shall have the right of cross-examination of all other witnesses. No ex parte testimony given by witnesses not under oath and not subject to cross-examination by other parties shall be ad- mitted or considered by the Commission. The find- ings of the Commission must conform to the evi- dence adduced at the hearing. Each ruling of the Commission must be supported by adequate factual findings based upon the evidence. SECTION 2. That Chapter 32, Section 32-4, of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 32-4. Same -- Application; information to be contained. A permit to conduct a charitable solicitations campaign on the streets or in any public place or by house to house canvass in the City of Fort Worth shall be granted only after notice and hear- ing upon an application for such permit filed in triplicate with the Consumer Affairs Director not less than forty-five days prior to the initiation of the proposed charitable solicitations campaign and not less than ten days prior to the date of the hearing. Such application shall be sworn to by the applicant and shall contain at least the following information: (a) The full name of the organization applying for a permit to solicit and the address of the headquarters in the city; if the organization is a chapter or other affiliate of an organization having its principal office outside the city, the name and address of the parent organization. (b) The names and addresses of all officers and directors or trustees of the organization and the name and city of residence of all officers, directors or trustees of the parent organization, if any. 2 - (c) The purpose or purposes for which the gross receipts derived from such solicitations or other activities are to be used. (d) The name of the person or persons by whom the receipts of such solicitation shall be dis- bursed; if the receipts are transmitted to a parent organization for further disbursement, detailed in- formation on the methods of handling and disburse- ment of all funds and a detailed and complete finan- cial statement of the parent organization for the last preceding fiscal year. (e) The name and address of the person or per- sons who will be in charge of conducting the chari- table solicitations compaign. (f) An outline of the method or methods to be used in conducting the charitable solicitations campaign. (g) The period within which such charitable solicitations campaign shall be conducted, includ- ing the proposed dates for the beginning and end- ing of such campaign. (h) The total amount of funds proposed to be raised. (i) The amount of all salaries, wages, fees, commissions, expenses and costs to be expended or paid to anyone in connection with such campaign, together with the manner in which such wages, fees, commissions, expenses and costs are to be expended, and the maximum percentage of funds collected which are to be used to pay such expenses of solicitation and collection. (j) The names of all officers, directors or trustees present when the decisions were made in reference to subsections (h) and (i) above. (k) A detailed and complete statement of the funds (if any) collected by the applicant during the preceding year from solicitations or other activities described in Sec. 32-3, which were the same or substantially the same as those for which the applicant is seeking a permit, such statement to show the gross amount collected, all costs of collection or solicitation, and the final distribu- tion thereof. (1) A full statement of the character and ex- tent of the charitable, educational, patriotic or philanthropic work done by the applicant within the city during the last preceding year. - 3 - (m) If the applicant is a corporation, a copy of its charter or articles of incorporation from its state of incorporation; if the applicant is a foreign corporation, a copy of its certificate to do business in Texas. (n) If the applicant is a charitable corpora- tion or other organization, proof of its current status as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible for federal income tax purposes. SECTION 3. That Chapter 32, Section 32-5, of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 32-5. Same -- Notice of hearing; conditions of approval; certification to Consumer Affairs Director Upon receipt of a proper application as pro- vided in Sec. 32-4, the Consumer Affairs Director shall set a time and place for hearing of said ap- plication, and such time for hearing shall be at least ten days after the date on which the appli- cation is received. The Consumer Affairs Director shall notify the applicant of the time and place set for hearing. In the absence of notice acknowl- edged by the applicant, the Consumer Affairs Di- rector shall give written notice to the applicant by depositing same in the United States mail in a sealed envelope with sufficient postage attached, addressed to applicant at the address shown on the application. Such mailed written notice shall be sufficient if deposited in the United States mail at least ten days prior to the date of the hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing on any such appli- cation, the Charitable Solicitations Commission shall authorize and direct the Consumer Affairs Director to issue the permit applied for unless the Commission finds from a preponderance of the credible evidence adduced at such hearing that: (a) One or more of the statements made in the application are not true. (b) The applicant or person in charge of the charitable solicitations campaign has been convicted in a court of competent jurisdiction of a crime in- volving moral turpitude, or that the applicant or such person has made or caused to be made false statements or misrepresentations to any member of - 4 - the public with regard to the charitable solicita- tions campaign or other activities described in the permit, or has made or caused to be made false statements or misrepresentations in the application or at the hearing on the application, or has in any way publicly represented that the permit granted hereunder is an endorsement or recommendation of the cause for which the charitable solicitations campaign is being conducted or has otherwise vio- lated any of the terms of the permit or this chapter. (c) The applicant's fund-raising expense in any charitable solicitations campaign conducted by it during any of the three years immediately pre- ceding the date of application exceeded twenty-five per cent (25%) of the gross amount collected. (d) The expected fund-raising expense of appli- cant in the charitable solicitations campaign which application for permit is being made will exceed twenty-five per cent (25%) of the gross amount col- lected based upon accounting data concerning prior campaigns of the applicant and such other evidence as may be adduced at the hearing. (e) The applicant has failed to keep or ob- serve any promise, agreement, representation or commitment with regard to the allocation of funds or methods of fund-raising or solicitation made to the Charitable Solicitations Commission in connec- tion with any previous application. SECTION 4. That Chapter 32, Section 32-6, of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 32-6. Same -- Issuance. Upon receipt of written authorization and direction from the Charitable Solicitations Com- mission as provided in Sec. 32-5 or upon notifica- tion of action by the City Council of the City of Fort Worth in connection with any appeal from a decision of the Charitable Solicitations Commis- sion as provided in Sec. 32-10, the Consumer Af- fairs Director shall issue a permit to conduct a charitable solicitations campaign for the period and in the manner authorized by the Charitable Solicitations Commission or the City Council. - 5 - SECTION 5. That Chapter 32, Section 32-11, of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 32-11. Same -- Reports to be filed. All persons or organizations issued permits under this chapter shall furnish to the Commission, within thirty days after the charitable solicita- tions campaign has been completed, a detailed re- port and financial statement showing the amount of funds raised by the charitable solicitations campaign, the amount expended in collecting such funds, including a detailed report of the wages, fees, commissions and expenses paid to any person in connection with such solicitation, and the dis- position of the balance of the funds collected by the campaign; provided, however, that the Commis- sion may extend the time for filing of the report required by this section for an additional period of thirty days upon proof that the filing of the report within the time specified will work unneces- sary hardship on the permit holder. The permit holder shall make available to the Commission, or to any person designated in writing by the Commis- sion as its representative for such purpose, all books, records and papers whereby the accuracy of the report required by this section may be investi- gated. All financial statements and reports and all applications submitted by any applicant or permit holder hereunder, and all determinations, findings and rulings involving accounting procedures made by either the Charitable Solicitations Commission or the City Council shall be prepared, made and interpreted in accordance with the accounting standards and practices set out in Standards of Accounting and Financial Reporting for Voluntary Health and Welfare Organizations, copyright 1964, National Health Council, National Social Welfare Assembly, which is incorporated herein by refer- ence and a copy of which shall be maintained on file in the Office of the Consumer Affairs Director of the City of Fort Worth. SECTION 6. That this ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, 1964, with respect to - 6 - regulating the use of public streets and public places for charitable solicitations except in those instances where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such Code, in which instances said conflicting provisions of such Code are hereby repealed. SECTION 7. That if any section, part of a section or provision of any section of this ordinance shall be held to be void, in- effective or unconstitutional by a court of competent juris- diction, the holding of such section, part of a section or provision of any section to be void, ineffective or uncon- stitutional for any cause whatsoever shall in no way affect the validity of the remaining sections and provisions of this ordinance, which shall remain in full force and effect. The City Council would not have passed any sections, parts of sections or provisions of any section of this ordinance that were unconstitutional, void or ineffective if it had known that they were unconstitutional, void or ineffective at the time of adopting this ordinance. SECTION 8. That any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be fined in any sum not to exceed Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) , and each day's violation thereof shall constitute a separate offense. SECTION 9. That this ordinance shall become effective and be in full force and effect from and after the date of its passage and publication as required by law, and it is so ordained. - 7 - APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: 00, City Attorney Adopted by the City Council ' , Effective 8 -