In March 2019, City Council passed an Ordinance requiring certain information from massage therapy business owners and employees, including proof of state licensure and government identification upon request by the City. If an owner and/or employee did not provide the required information, the business would be placarded. This Ordinance was passed in response to the rise of businesses that do not provide legitimate massage therapy services.

Since the Ordinance was adopted, Davenport Police and the Neighborhood Services Division have closed 14 massage businesses that were not licensed, and 3 have since reopened. The Ordinance has largely eradicated the issue of illicit massage businesses within the City of Davenport. The proposed amendment will help close a few loopholes that have been exploited in the current Ordinance.

There are two man objectives with this proposed amendment:

• If a massage business is employing licensed massage therapists, but still providing illicit services, they can be placarded based on the probable cause clause that was added.
• If a business is placarded twice within twelve months, they are not allowed to operate within the City for twelve months after the second placard has been placed. In addition, the building itself may not be occupied by a massage or reflexology business for twelve months. This should alleviate the issues of having illicit businesses reopen only to be placarded again for the same issues.