Summit County, OH Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Sec. 02 bars operating, conducting or permitting a massage establishment on any County premises without first obtaining a permit from the Auditor after Health Officer approval. Under Sec. 00 filing fee; within five days the Auditor refers the application to the Fire Department, Health Commissioner, Building Inspection Department and the appropriate Police Department, each of which has thirty days to inspect the premises and report on compliance. The Auditor must then notify the applicant of approval, denial or further investigation within ten days, with any additional investigation capped at thirty more days unless the applicant agrees otherwise.

Sec. 04 requires each applicant, officer, director or stockholder holding more than two percent of a corporate applicant's stock to submit proof of age eighteen or older, three years of residential addresses, employment history, prior massage-license history including any revocation or suspension, all criminal convictions or nolo contendere pleas from the past five years, and fingerprints with two-inch-by-two-inch photographs taken within thirty days of filing. Sec. 05 directs the Auditor to issue the permit once the Health Officer, Building Inspector, Fire Inspector and law enforcement certify compliance, but the Auditor must deny it if the applicant or anyone managing the establishment was convicted, within the preceding five years, of a felony, an offense involving sexual misconduct with children, prostitution, soliciting, pandering, keeping a house of prostitution, pimping, or any crime of dishonesty, fraud or deceit.

Every permit expires one year from issuance and the owner must apply to the Auditor for re-issuance. Sec. 06 lets the Auditor revoke or suspend a permit after a hearing for good cause, for chapter violations by the permittee or an employee the permittee knew or should have known about, for false statements on the application, or for refusing a police or health inspection; the Auditor may also act on the Health Officer's recommendation where the business is run without regard to public health or sanitation.

Sec. 26 lets a permittee appeal the Auditor's issuance, suspension or revocation decision to the Review Board within ten days, and the Board's ruling is a final appealable order.