At the September 19 Board of Aldermen meeting, the members accepted a new draft of an ordinance that would allow tattoo parlors to conduct business in Kearney.

The new ordinance will repeal a 2010 law that restricted tattoos to be performed by a doctor or under the direct supervision of a doctor. That language was borrowed from an Excelsior Springs ordinance, but Excelsior Springs removed the doctor requirement in 2016.

Kearney residents Russell and Audrey Quinn, owners of Divine Tattoo in Kansas City, brought this information to the Board because they wanted to open up a small shop in Kearney.

City Attorney Mark Ellebracht prepared the new ordinance which excluded the physician requirement. A tattoo business would also have to obtain a city business license which is renewed annually. The new ordinance also contained language that would only let the city issue one occupational license to a tattoo business per 20,000 residents, but that section was amended at the meeting.

“I removed that [from the draft] simply because it was a limitation of 1 per 20,000,” said City Administrator Jim Eldridge. “Which is almost like giving you a monopoly, and it would be a long time before we get to 20,000 let alone 40,000. I considered that an unreasonable restraint of trade.”

The Board decided that they were comfortable amending the ordinance language to limit licenses to 1 tattoo business for every 5,000 residents and the city would go by the estimated population figure that is produced annually by the U.S. Census.

The new draft of this ordinance with the 1 tattoo business license per 5,000 residents was unanimously passed by the Board of Aldermen.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story