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New Fargo ordinance requires massage therapy establishments to obtain licenses

Fargo Cass Public Health is encouraging owners of these facilities to contact them regarding their licensure.

Fargo Cass Public Health is encouraging owners of massage therapy establishments to contact them to initiate licensing procedures.

Last December, the Fargo City Commission passed an ordinance to license and regulate massage therapy facilities in Fargo.

Grant Larson is Fargo Cass Public Health’s Director of Environmental Health. He says individual therapists were already required to be licensed, so licensing the facilities closes a gap.

"If you would go on to the North Dakota Board of Massage Therapy, what they do is they individually license the therapists themselves - so, just the therapists. And it's highlighted on their website, and in their instructions, that if you're going to open a massage therapy establishment to contact local municipalities and go by their ordinances and requirements. And so, there was a gap there because - we didn't have any ordinance, or requirements for anyone to go by."

Larson says this will ensure that massage therapists are working at licensed facilities.

Owners of massage therapy establishments in Fargo are encouraged to call Fargo Cass Public Health at 701-241-1512. Larson says the application fee for the license is $100.