Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 | 8:15 a.m.
Outcall massage is more about therapy than enabling prostitution, the North Las Vegas City Council decided Wednesday in approving the service within a new massage ordinance.
"This is a wellness issue. If illegal activities are going on, they're going on right now," Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said. "This isn't going to start that."
Smith and Councilwoman Shari Buck said the outcall provision makes massage therapy more readily available to the growing city's residents, especially those who are elderly or disabled.
The ordinance was approved by a 4-1 vote with only Councilman William Robinson in opposition.
"I'm uncomfortable with it," Robinson said of concerns the ordinance might be abused. "Naturally, if somebody's doing something illegal, they're not going to come tell you."
The council asked North Las Vegas Police Chief Mark Paresi about the ordinance, which would provide for annual therapist background checks and increase the applicant police inspection fee to $100 from $75.
"I do believe the sanctions and the safeguards are there for the city," Paresi said. "I think no matter what we put in place, somebody's going to take advantage of it. That's the reality."
North Las Vegas was the only valley municipality that did not allow outcall massage. The city now joins Henderson as the only municipalities to also permit outcall massage therapists to work on a client of the opposite sex.
The outcall provision was only one change in a rewritten massage ordinance that also requires therapists study at an accredited school and receive national certification.
The council heard from North Las Vegas massage therapists who said they are dedicated to their profession and want to practice in the city where they live.
Billie Shea, a massage therapist and president of the Nevada chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association, traveled from Carson City to voice her support for the expanded ordinance.
"Having it available as a wellness tool to our population is a good thing," Shea said.
Jeana DeMarchis, marketing manager and co-owner of the city's only massage business, said she was disappointed to see the ordinance pass but would make the best of it.
"We already knew that it could benefit us, but we didn't want it that way because you got other people out there messing it up," she said. "The profession suffers."
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