Police chief: Casper’s ordinance regulating massage parlors isn’t working - Oil City News

[Greg Hirst]

CASPER, Wyo. — A 2020 ordinance setting up licensing requirements for massage therapists in Casper is getting an overhaul after staff and police say it’s not having the desired effect.

City officials, including Casper Police Department Chief Keith McPheeters, say the original ordinance came with the support and input of massage therapists in the community who wanted to distinguish themselves from illegitimate operations engaged in prostitution under the guise of massage therapy services.

The ordinance required that massage therapists get a permit from the city, pass a background check and present documentation certifying the completion of a massage therapy school. That latter requirement is difficult to vet, City Clerk Amanda Ainsworth told the council at a work session discussion on Tuesday. Nov 12.

“A lot of these schools are closed,” Ainsworth said, adding that city staff don’t have the expertise or reliable metrics to establish whether some of those schools were legitimate or even existed at all.

McPheeters told the council that illegitimate operations had been able to get the licenses from the city.

“We have found that the persons we believe were the victims of trafficking were able to get licenses,” McPheeters said. “The tools we had did not prevent that from happening.”

Recommended changes to the ordinance include requiring that applicants have their transcripts from either the Massage & Bodywork Licensing Examination or National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage sent directly to the clerk’s office. Licenses issued by other states would also be acceptable.

Ainsworth said that Wyoming is one of only three or four states that don’t have a state-level massage licensing board, so Casper has taken on the unusual task of acting as licensing entity. The council documents note that it was hoped the state legislature would take the matter up since 2020.

Councilor Kyle Gamroth said the council should make sure the issue is on the agenda for the Wyoming Association of Municipalities when it comes time again to advise state lawmakers.

There are other recommendations for an updated ordinance. One is to change the license renewal period from two years to one.

“We thought it was important to do annual [renewals] to refresh our knowledge on who we’re licensing,” McPheeters said.

Another suggestion from the police is that massage parlors be required to get health department inspections every year. Based on previous investigations, the sanitary conditions were good indicators for who was legitimate and who was not, McPheeters said. The memo added that other counties in Wyoming require the same of their massage therapy businesses. Police are also recommending that operating hours for licensed massage therapists be limited to 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

An additional suggestion raised concern from Councilor Amber Pollock. The memo suggests that licensed therapists be required to provide a physician’s note indicating “a clean bill of health.”

Pollock said that vague suggestion begged a much deeper discussion about what kind of health conditions would preclude licensure if identified in a physical, along with the rationale supported by health professionals who thus far have not been cited in the discussion. Pollock said that the sum of the new requirements might be adding up to an undue burden.

McPheeters said that many public safety and medical professionals do annual physicals and that the requirement on its face should not be “too heavy of a lift.”

A draft of a revised ordinance is expected in the coming weeks. In lieu of re-assembling the committee of massage therapists that advised on the ordinance four years ago, Mayor Steve Cathey said those stakeholders would likely be contacted personally about the revised ordinance. There would be opportunities for the public to weigh in before and during a public comment hearing and three readings of the ordinance, should it advance.

The ordinance being discussed appears under Chapter 8.04 of the Casper Municipal Code Regarding Businesses Affecting Public Health.