No Vote Yet on Pawn Shop Ordinance in Knox

Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

The Knox City Council members are currently in the process of gathering information on a Pawn Shop Ordinance and at their last meeting, they reviewed an ordinance prepared by City Attorney David Matsey. Because it was just an information item, there was not a vote to move it to first reading. Mr. Matsey said his ordinance was modeled after similar ordinances in Bloomington and Indianapolis.

According to the minutes from the meeting, Knox City Police Chief, Clint Norem, said that everything in the proposed ordinance is in accordance with state statute.

Hank Minix and Chris Firebaugh of First Choice Pawn and Loan objected to some of the language in the proposed ordinance. They objected to pawn shops being required to get social security numbers, serial numbers, and hold purchased items during a 10 day waiting period.

At the end of the discussion period, Mayor Rick Chambers asked for Police Chief Norem to work with the Prosecutor’s office and come back with recommendations for the Council.