Massage businesses ask council to reconsider
Ordinance demanding certifications, fees placed on hold temporarily
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Local professional massage therapists shared their concerns with the Township Council Tuesday about a proposed set of regulations aimed to rid the town of brothels posing as legitimate businesses.

The ordinance, first discussed at last week's council meeting, was drafted in response to a prostitution raid in April, where an alleged brothel on Georges Road had been posing as a legitimate massage business. Police had also shut down an alleged brothel operating in the exact same place the year before. The year before that, police responded to complaints about prostitution in Jefferson Plaza.

The ordinance would have compelled massage businesses to pay a $500 licensing fee, submit to a number of deep background checks, have all massage therapists be state certified, provide character witnesses, and follow a number of sanitary regulations.

Chief among the massage therapists' worries was the $500 fee that businesses would need to pay in order to operate in town, which they felt was far too high.

"I do feel, as a small-business person, the $500 current fee is exorbitant," said Stephanie D'Angelo, a Kendall Park resident and professional massage therapist.

Another worry from the massage therapists was the ordinance's requirement that anyone practicing massage be certified by the state, since the certification is not mandatory and so many people already operating in South Brunswick legitimately do not have this validation. It was also said that it took the Board of Nursing, the body that regulates certification for massage therapists, eight years to finally put a program for that together, and with this precedent in mind, there were concerns that applications could take a long time to process. D'Angelo, whose massage practice is mostly clinical rather than recreational in nature, said that many of her clients cannot wait that long.

"We don't want, as therapists, to see an interruption in services to our clients who direly need them, and most of the people who come to me are people who have been to doctors, who have had surgery and have had injuries," said D'Angelo.

It was also pointed out that certification by the state already requires many of the things that licensing from the township asks, such as background checks, character references and fingerprinting. The addition of these things, to the half-dozen or so massage therapists in attendance, just seemed redundant. Another way for new businesses to prove their legitimacy beyond state certification, according to D'Angelo, would be proof of insurance, which carries proof of education as a prerequisite anyway. Councilman Christopher Killmurray felt this was a good idea.

"If someone has proof of insurance, that's one more mark of a good actor," said Killmurray.

Other questions brought forth included how the ordinance would deal with subcontractors, with part-time massage therapists, and with home visits. The council, feeling that these questions, as well as previous concerns over the fees and certification, were valid, decided it would be best to delay introducing the ordinance until June 26.

"I think the purpose of this [ordinance] is to discourage bad actors, and clearly there's good actors in the field, and we always take pains to help local businesses," Councilman Charles Carley said.

To this end, it was decided that massage businesses already operating in town will have the initial licensing fee waived, as well as those who open their businesses within 30 days of the ordinance passing. The fee itself was reduced from $500 to $150, with annual renewal fees being dropped down to $25. Lingering questions about certification requirements and other aspects of the business will be worked out between Township Attorney Don Sears and the local massage therapists, who voiced their support for the principle behind the ordinance.

"We're massage therapists that work in massage therapy practices. Really, there is no such thing as a legitimate massage parlor, that is an oxymoron. ... We fight very hard for professionalism," said D'Angelo.