Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 08-046 ORDINANCE NO. 08-046 ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 29, ARTICLE II, AMBULANCES, SECTIONS 29-20 THROUGH 29-25, SECTIONS 29-27 THROUGH 29-35, SECTION 29-38,ARTICLE III, TAXICABS, SECTION 29- 48, SUBSECTION 29-50(c), SECTION 29-56 AND SECTION 29-58 AND REPEALING ARTICLE II, SECTION 29-26 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL; AND PROVIDING A PENALTY. WHEREAS, the City of Beaumont endeavors to maintain a clear, comprehensible, and cohesive Code of Ordinances; and, WHEREAS, the City is therefore revising its Code to conform with current law and court interpretation; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BEAUMONT: Section 1. That Chapter 29, Article 11, Section 29-20, Definitions, be and the same is hereby amended by deleting the definition of "Health authority." Section 2. That Chapter 29, Article 11, Sections 29-21 through 29-25 be and the same are hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 29-21. Operating ambulance without permit. No person shall drive or operate an ambulance for the purpose of transporting the sick or injured for hire upon the public streets of the City of Beaumont unless there is attached to the windshield of such ambulance a valid ambulance permit issued for such ambulance by the City. There shall be exempted from the provisions of the permit and license requirements of this article those ambulances who transport persons from a location outside the City of Beaumont into the City of Beaumont; those ambulances who pick up a person inside the City of Beaumont and transport said person outside the City of Beaumont; and those ambulances who transport persons only through the City of Beaumont. Sec. 29-22. Ambulance company permit fees. Every person, partnership or corporation desiring to obtain an ambulance permit shall make application in writing on a form provided by the city for that purpose to the public health director or his designee. Such application shall contain the name, address, and telephone number of the applicant and the address and telephone number of the location from which ambulance service will be originated. The application shall also show the make, model, motor number, correct state license number and ownership for each ambulance unit to be operated by the applicant. Every filed application shall be sworn to by the applicant and shall be accompanied by a permit fee of $250 for the company permit plus $25 for each ambulance unit operating within the city. No permit shall be transferable and every permit shall expire one year from the date of issuance. Sec. 29-23. Conditions for issuance of ambulance permit. The following conditions are necessary to the issuance of a permit: (a) There shall be in full force and effect a policy or policies of public liability and property damage insurance, issued by a casualty insurance company authorized to do business in the State of Texas, and in the standard form approved by the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Texas, with coverage provisions insuring the public from any loss or damage that may arise to any person or property by reason of the operation of the ambulance for which the permit is issued, and providing that the amount of recovery shall be in limits not less than the following sums: (1) For damages arising out of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00); (2) For damages arising out of bodily injury to or death of two (2) or more persons in any one accident, three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000.00); (3) For any injury to or destruction of property in any one accident, one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000); and, the public health director or his designee shall be furnished with a current insurance certificate certifying that such policy as specified above is in full force and effect. Such certificate shall also provide that the City of Beaumont will be given ten (10) days notice of any cancellation. (b) The applicant cannot owe delinquent taxes to the city; (c) The applicant has a valid permit issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services pursuant to Chapter 773, Health and Safety Code; and (d) The applicant, an employer or any employee of the applicant, or any person residentially domiciled with the applicant, an employer or any employee of the applicant has not had an ambulance permit revoked within one year preceding the date of application. Sec. 29-24. Equipment. As a minimum requirement, every ambulance for which an ambulance permit is issued shall be equipped with the equipment required by the rules and regulations of the Texas Department of State Health Services for a state basic life support ambulance permit. Such equipment shall be permanently labeled in some manner so as to indicate that the equipment is owned by the ambulance company whose ambulance is being inspected. The rules and regulations of the State concerning equipment on ambulances are incorporated by reference as if set out in full at this point. Sec. 29-25. Licensed personnel. Every ambulance, when in service, shall be manned with at least two (2) EMTs who are currently certified in standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures approved by the American Red Cross or the American Heart Association. Only authorized personnel shall be allowed in the ambulance at any time. This does not apply to family members of the injured. Section 3. That Chapter 29, Article II, Section 29-26 be and the same is hereby repealed. Section 4. That Chapter 29, Article II, Sections 29-27 through 29-35 be and the same are hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 29-27. Communications. Every ambulance shall be equipped with a fully operational two-way radio communications system. Sec. 29-28. Transport of injured or ill persons. (a) When the holder of an ambulance permit agrees to respond to an emergency medical incident, he shall be required to send an ambulance to transport a sick or injured person from a location within the city to an emergency medical facility. Ambulances involved in emergency calls shall travel at a speed no greater than ten (10) miles per hour above the legal speed limit. (b) In the event of a major emergency incident involving multiple casualties and/or fatalities, the first senior City of Beaumont EMS paramedic to arrive on the scene or the EMS director/manager shall have complete control over the medical scene. This senior paramedic or EMS manager shall have authority to decide which ambulance will transport the patient or patients and to designate which hospital or medical facility to which they are to be transported. A designated triage officer is to be authorized by EMS to triage, tag, arrange for transport and to see that the patients get transported to the appropriate emergency medical facility. (c) Any ambulance service which refuses to transport or which transports to an emergency medical facility other than one designated by the senior EMS paramedic or triage officer, as provided for in subsection (b), shall result in a two (2) week suspension of the driver's identification card and permanent suspension of the driver's identification card for a second offense committed during the term of the card. (d) Any ambulance service which wishes to participate in the city's rollover program shall enter into an agreement with the city and be subject to the provisions and requirements contained herein. Sec. 29-29. Ambulance inspection. Each ambulance for which a permit is issued shall be inspected at least once every twelve (12) months to determine compliance with this article. As many additional inspections as are determined to be necessary by the public health director or his designee may be made to insure enforcement of this article. Sec. 29-30. Suspension or revocation of ambulance permit. An ambulance permit may be suspended by the public health director for any period of time from one day to thirty (30) days, or may be revoked. The public health director shall give written notice of suspension or revocation to the holder of an ambulance permit. The notice of suspension shall include the dates of the proposed suspension and the reasons therefor. The notice of revocation shall include the reasons for the proposed revocation. The holder of an ambulance permit may request a hearing by written notice to the city manager or his designee within five (5) days of the receipt of notice of suspension or revocation. Upon receipt of a written request for hearing, the city manager or his designee shall notify the permit holder of the time and place for a hearing to be held not less than five (5) nor more than fifteen (15) days after receipt of request for hearing. After hearing, the city manager or his designee may, upon a finding that one or more grounds for revocation or suspension exists, revoke or suspend the permit. If no ground for revocation or suspension is found by the city manager or his designee, he shall overrule the revocation or suspension. A record shall be made of any hearing held under this section, and all costs associated with such hearing and record shall be paid by the permit holder. Impossibility of performance shall be the only defense to revocation for failing to send an ambulance when requested to transport a sick or injured person from a location within the city to an emergency medical facility within the city. The city manager or his designee shall render his decision in writing within ten (10) days of the conclusion of the hearing. The following shall be grounds for revocation or suspension of an ambulance permit by the city manager or his designee: (a) The permit holder or an employee of the permit holder has violated any provision of this chapter; (b) The permit holder or an employee of the permit holder has misused information received from a broadcast on the city's emergency radio frequency for his own benefit, or the benefit of another person, in connection with the operation of an ambulance; (c) The permit holder has allowed a person not holding a valid City of Beaumont identification card to operate the ambulance for the purpose of transporting a sick or injured person or persons on the public streets of the city; (d) The permit holder or an employee of the permit holder has, in the provision of ambulance service, violated the zoning ordinance of the City of Beaumont. Sec. 29-31. Appeal. Appeal of the decision to revoke or suspend an ambulance permit by the city manager or his designee shall be made to the City Council and shall be heard only upon the record made of the hearing before the city manager or his designee. The substantial evidence rule shall apply. The City Council shall hear said appeal upon receipt of a request in writing for such appeal received within fifteen (15) days after the date of the decision of revocation by the city manager or his designee. The record of the hearing before the city manager or his designee shall be attached as a part of the request for appeal to the City Council. The decision of the City Council shall be final. Sec. 29-32. Ambulance identification card required. No person shall operate or drive an ambulance for the purpose of transporting the sick or injured for hire upon the public streets of the City of Beaumont unless he is wearing a valid identification card issued by the public health director or his designee. Sec. 29-33. Application for identification card. Application for a city identification card shall be made in writing to the public health director or his designee on a form provided for that purpose. Such application shall give the name, address and telephone number of the applicant. The applicant must be eighteen (18) years old, the holder of a driver's license valid for the operation of an ambulance in the State of Texas and must exhibit proof that he/she has passed an emergency medical technician course. Such application must be signed and sworn to before a notary public. Every application when filed shall be accompanied by a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00). No card shall be transferable and every card shall expire one year from the date of issuance. The card is subject to recall by the public health director and must be surrendered upon expiration of certification. Sec. 29-34. Suspension or revocation of identification card. An ambulance identification card may be suspended for any period of time from one day to thirty (30) days, or may be revoked. The public health director may revoke or suspend an identification card upon a finding that the holder has been convicted of violating any provision of this article or upon conviction of a moving violation of the traffic laws of the State of Texas, or the City of Beaumont, provided such moving violation occurs while the violator is driving or operating an ambulance, or the holder no longer meets the requirements of section 29-33 of this article. Upon suspension or revocation of an identification card the public health director shall give written notice to the holder of the card. The notice shall state the reasons for the proposed revocation or suspension and that the holder of the card may request a hearing. The holder of an identification card may request a hearing within five (5) days of the receipt of notice of suspension or revocation by filing same with the city manager or his designee. The city manager or his designee shall conduct a hearing within fifteen (15) days of the request and may approve the suspension or revocation upon a finding that grounds for suspension or revocation exist under this article or may overrule the suspension. Should a hearing be requested in accordance with this article, the suspension or revocation shall be delayed pending the final decision of the city manager or his designee which said decision shall be final. Sec. 29-35. Radio response to the 911 dispatch operations center of location and availability. A permit holder shall at all times respond to inquiries of the city by radio regarding the status of each permitted ambulance. Section 5. That Chapter 29, Article II, Section 29-38 be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 29-38. Fees. The city manager is hereby authorized to establish and adjust fees for ambulance services consistent with the current payment practices of Medicare, Medicaid, and the insurance industry. The fees, as established, shall be charged by the city for services rendered to the public. Section 6. That Chapter 29, Article III, Section 29-48 be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 29-48. Ad valorem taxes--Payment required, delinquency causes revocation of permit. It shall be the duty of every owner of a taxicab that is operated in the city to pay all ad valorem taxes assessed by the city against such vehicle and other equipment used in such business, and a failure to pay such ad valorem taxes before they become delinquent shall operate as a reason for revocation of the permit issued in accordance with this article. Section 7. That Chapter 29, Article III, Subsection 29-50(c) be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 29-50. Condition of vehicle; inspections. (c) No taxicab shall be given a permit unless that taxicab has a valid motor vehicle inspection sticker. Taxicab permits issued to taxicabs shall be valid only so long as the vehicle has affixed to it a valid motor vehicle inspection sticker. Section 8. That Chapter 29, Article III, Section 29-56 be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 29-56. Terminals; required; soliciting at stations prohibited; remaining in cab at subterminals. (a) Every operator of a taxicab shall maintain within the city an off-street terminal of sufficient size to accommodate all of the owner's taxicabs. (b) The form and type of a terminal shall be of such a nature as best meets public convenience and necessity and affords a safe, sanitary and lawful operation of transportation by taxicabs. The site, location, type of proposed buildings and the sanitary conditions of the taxi stand shall be reflected in an application to the chief of police. The equipment, site and place of a terminal must be found by the chief of police or his designee to best meet public convenience and necessity prior to an authorization to a permit holder to operate such terminal. An affirmative finding in favor of applicant, reflecting adequate sufficiency of the place of any off-street terminal shall be considered as having an established prima facie case thereon, upon its appearing within the application that the operator of taxicabs is presently operating for his own exclusive use such off-street terminal now being operated in the commercial areas of the city. Section 9. That Chapter 29, Article III, Section 29-58 be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 29-58. Maximum load. No driver or owner of any taxicab, licensed under the provisions of this article, shall permit or allow more passengers than the vehicle is rated to carry in such taxicab; and in no event shall more than two (2) persons, in addition to the driver, be permitted to ride in the front seat of such taxicab, and then only if the number of passengers makes it necessary. Section 10. That if any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this ordinance, or the application of same to a particular set of persons or circumstances should for any reason be held to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the remaining portions of this ordinance, and to such end the various portions and provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable. Section 11. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are repealed to the extent of the conflict only. Section 12. That any person who violates any provision of this ordinance shall, upon conviction be punished, as provided in Section 1-8 of the Code of Ordinances of Beaumont, Texas. PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL of the City of Beaumont on this the 27th day of May , 2008. ,ll I/ V ayor Becky Ames - X i