The city of Cumming will crack down on potential illegal activity at massage businesses in the city.

At a work session on Tuesday, members of the Cumming City Council voted 5-0 to approve a new massage parlor ordinance. 

“It’s a comprehensive set of licensing and regulations where someone who is going to work in a massage parlor, if they are not a licensed massage therapist by the state of Georgia, they are fingerprinted and [receive a] background check,” said City Attorney Kevin Tallant. 

Forsyth County has had a similar ordinance since 2015 and is seeking to strength it. Tallant said the city had been approached by Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman about having a uniform policy in the county and city. 

“This is obviously the result of problems we’ve had with massage parlors having inappropriate sexual activity going on inside,” Tallant said. “It’s been going on for quite a while, but in the last 12 months, I know we’ve had a couple of instances both in the unincorporated county and city.”

Forsyth County has not yet adopted changes to the ordinance.

Under the new rules, Freeman and the sheriff’s office would conduct investigations into such businesses before the Cumming Police Department handled violations.