An ordinance to amend the City of Auburn's Code of Ordinances may soon make way for a tattoo establishment in Auburn.

Tattoo artist Michael Dean spoke to Mayor Linda Blechinger, Council members and citizens at a recent council workshop.

"As things transcend, of course with TV blowing things up [tattoo related programs], it does two things: It makes things bad or it makes things good. Unfortunately it does both," said Dean.

Dean explained that when some people watch the recently popular tattoo programs, they begin to think that they too can be a tattoo artist, so they order supplies off the Internet and start offering services out of their homes. Dean said that opening a regulated tattoo establishment will help to minimize this, and other negative activity from happening.

"I've worked with the police department in every shop I've ever been in, down in Gainesville there is a lot of gang activity ... you start doing consistent tattoos on people, you get with members of your police force, and you say 'look, I've got this group of people that I've photographed their driver's license, and I've done this particular piece of work [tattoo design] eight or nine times,' now they [police department] have a record," Dean said. "So now, as soon as they [law enforcement] stop one person and they see that piece of art, they know that these other nine people may have been involved somehow." Dean said that it's a matter of the community, council and law enforcement working together to make a tattoo shop a positive thing for the City of Auburn.

Dean said that most all of his equipment comes gas-sterilized from his manufacturer and it is good up to six years. All of his needles are disposable and are thrown away in a bio-hazard box that is hauled off.

Dean has worked as a tattoo artist for 10-plus years in Buford, Gainesville and more recently, Monroe. He is temporarily leasing a building in Auburn that he is renovating. He hopes to open his studio, Art Works, some time in April.

The state of Georgia does not currently license tattoo artists, so creating a city ordinance, Blechinger said, is a way to regulate the establishment.

She said that Dean has been proactive in helping to establish ordinances that will make for a clean, safe and positive tattoo establishment in Auburn. The guidelines within the ordinance are based on the Gwinnett County Board of Health ordinances.

"One of the main things that I appreciate that you [Michael Dean] said, which was our main concern, was that we want our citizens and everybody who comes to Auburn, for something like that [receiving a tattoo] to be safe, to not get infected with some kind of disease, dirty needles or just improper ways of sanitizing ... Mr. Dean was very informative about what needs to be used, what type of equipment is necessary," Blechinger said.

The council decided to make some changes in the new ordinance, and the matter will be voted on in a future meeting.

Originally published Thursday, March 27, 2008