MOUNT VERNON — After strong pushback from licensed massage therapists (LMTs), Mount Vernon City Council members postponed indefinitely legislation seeking to regulate massage establishments.
The goal of the legislation was to be a preventative measure for establishments that traffick vulnerable women.
Council member Amber Keener introduced the legislation, which was up for a second reading at Monday night’s meeting. It required an annual city permit, Knox Public Health inspection, and permission for KPH, the city, and the property enforcement maintenance officer to do compliance inspections.
It also included language relating to cleanliness, display of suggestive advertising material, and appropriate clothing and coverings for employees and patrons.
Referencing the recent arrest of 160 individuals in a statewide human trafficking crackdown, Keener noted it is easier to catch those who seek illicit services but much more difficult to help the women who are being victimized.
Keener said Dave Drake, Ohio Schools of Medical Massage, supports the effort to protect LMTs with legislation similar to what council members proposed, although he agrees there are certain aspects that need to be changed.
“It places an unnecessary burden on small businesses with no benefits to my clients, and it doesn’t benefit the community at all.”
Kate Meyers, owner of Top Notch Hands Massage Therapy
Keener said Monday night’s legislation is not the same legislation proposed two weeks ago. The revision lowered the annual fee, deleted sections relating to cleanliness, and stripped the language referencing proper coverings.
LMTs called it atrocious, harmful, appalling, and insulting.
“Flawed legislation”
Scott Pullins, attorney for Healthy Center Massage Therapy & Acupuncture, said the legislation — and its amendments — is fatally flawed because it attempts to label licensed, regulated medical professionals in the same boat as others who offer illicit services.
Pullins said many other cities have legislation on this issue. All of them exempt persons licensed by the State Medical Board of Ohio.
He said that as written, the legislation opens the city to litigation because it creates two classes of LMTs:
•Those who work for a doctor are exempt
•Those who work for a massage clinic are under the proposed regulations
LMT Dena Hooley said most LMTs have over 600 hours of training, including watching human trafficking videos.
“We are taught ethics, we are taught boundaries, we are taught cleanliness,” she said.
Hooley and others objected to a permit fee when they already pay a state fee. Several LMTs noted that allowing officials in for inspections risks their compliance with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
Kate Meyers said the legislation shows a stereotype of massage therapists as sex workers. Carol Riley agreed, saying, “We have worked for hundreds of years to make it respectable, only to have you tear it down again.”
Acknowledging that massage has been used as a front for illicit activities, Meyers said this is due to a loophole in the state code’s definition of massage.
“This loophole is addressed in Senate Bill 55, which has been languishing in the state senate since 2021,” she said.
Crystal Catell agreed with state involvement.
“If the cities have to deal with this issue, on a city-by-city basis, that’s ridiculous,” she said. “This is a state of Ohio issue that we should take up with the whole state. There should be legislation written at the state so that there aren’t these gray areas.”
Background
The legislation stems from a 2016 case the Mount Vernon Police Department could not prosecute because it lacked documentation of licenses or other information.
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Powell Detective Ryan Pence assisted the MVPD in 2016. A Mount Vernon resident, Pence is a member of the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force.
Speaking in a Parks and Lands Committee meeting before the legislative session, Pence related details about an operation in which he was previously involved. After six months of investigation, he shut down the operation.
However, he said his investigative techniques were made known in court, and traffickers adjusted their methods. His techniques were no longer valid three months later when the MVPD called.
“[The MVPD] struggled to get into that business and shut that business down,” Pence said. “There were victims in there, and there were victims that got away because we didn’t have the proper legislation in place to shut them down.”
The ordinance received a first reading at the Sept. 25 council meeting. Keener said at the time that the legislation was poorly written and needed to be “picked apart” and revised.
In committee on Monday, she said she would postpone or table it if not everyone was satisfied with the amended ordinance. After hearing from the LMTs present, council members voted to postpone it indefinitely.
