CITY OF FREDERICK

City Hall - 101 N. Court Street

 

Minutes

TAXI CAB COMMISSION MEETING

12:00 Noon

Monday, June 21st , 2004, – City Hall, Boardroom

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Present:  Alderman Dave Lenhart; Alderman Donna Kuzemchak Ramsburg; Lt. Tom Chase; Jerry Wood; Arnold Lydard; William Bowie; Justin Hayes; Eileen Farrar; Not Present:  Alderman Bill Hall; Police Chief Dine

 

Alderman Lenhart opened the meeting and stated that no decisions would be made on the agenda due to the lack of a quorum.

 

Item 1:  Approval of the minutes for the meeting of April 26th, 2004.

Minutes were tabled till the meeting of July 26th, 2004 due to a lack of a quorum.

 

Item 2:  Taxicab Applicant Appeals

No applicants appeared for the hearing.

 

Item 3:  Discussion and review of Insurance Requirements.

No decision could be made at this meeting due to the lack of a quorum.

 

Discussion:

Lt. Chase stated the Administrative Agency is short staffed due to the vacation of a staff member and with the new ordinance being passed will make the application process very difficult.  Alderman Lenhart explained the timeliness of the new ordinance and when by law it must take effect after the signature of the Mayor.  Lt. Chase explained that the additional staff member requested by the Administrative Agency was sticken due to budget constraints.  Lt. Chase stated that the agency will do what is required by law to follow procedures. 

 

The question was asked regarding when the new rates would take effect.  Alderman Lenhart stated that the new rates would take effect 21calendar days after the signature date of the Mayor. 

 

Lt. Chase was asked what procedures he would take to implement the new ordinance and his response was to make sure the owners were notified and implement procedure where we receive the application and the fees and implement other procedure as to the timelines of the ordinance.  Alderman Ramsburg and Lenhart offered assistance to Lt. Chase if needed.

Discussion continued as to the timeline for notification and Alderman Ramsburg stated that Nancy Poss, Public Information Officer for the City, would be told to do a media advisory to alert the public as to the effective date of the Taxicab Ordinance.  Justin Hayes stated that an amendment to the Taxicab Ordinance may be possible to change the effective date due to the public not being notified after the ordinance was signed.

 

Discussion continued regarding the lack of drivers and the types of applicants.  Alderman Lenhart asked what steps could be taken as a community to promote the choice of taking a cab.  Alderman Ramsburg stated that any activities within the city that the cab companies are involved in would be helpful. Alderman Lenhart agreed and stated that possibly a tie with economic development would be a help such as dinner and a driver for a special night. Alderman Ramsburg asked if the next meeting could include a person from Economic Development for ideas and suggestions. 

 

Insurance requirements discussion: 

Lt. Chase did research and stated that the Taxicab companies are insured by themselves or a company called the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund. (MAIF). The minimums that are set by the licensing agents which is the administrative agency is what they write.  Alderman Lenhart stated that we could write what we want.  Alderman Ramsburg asked if we could get information from the insurance industry.  Lt. Chase stated the they will not write policies that are higher then what we set.  Alderman Ramsburg stated that we should ask experts what they should be written for.  Alderman Ramsburg was more concerned about property damage as opposed to personal liability.  (physical damage).  Alderman Ramsburg suggested that agents from different insurance company besides MAIF come to a meeting. 

 

Mr. Lydard asked a question about the requirement for the displaying of an address in the cab and Alderman Lenhart stated that the business address was to be displayed.  Mr. Lydard also asked about any grandfathering in the ordinance and Alderman Lenhart and Alderman Ramsburg said no. 

More discussion continued regarding the section in the ordinance regarding a written log kept by the operator.  Alderman Lenhart stated that he wanted to be able to get information from the cab company on a particular driver and get a record of his activity for the day. 

 

Alderman Lenhart asked about a surcharge for fuel and if it was needed.  Mr. Wood said yes.

 

More discussion was held on the time frame for the effective date of the taxicab ordinance and due to the uncertainty of the date of the Mayor’s signature, it was decided that a new meeting would be held if possible to amend the ordinance to state a new effective date. Alderman Ramsburg stated that she would make a formal request to have a special meeting or workshop for this reason.

 

The next meeting will be held on Monday, July 26th, 2004.

 

Minutes submitted by:

Eileen S. Farrar