(A) Business license required. No person shall engage in the business of operating a taxicab or taxicabs upon the streets without a license as provided herein. Every person desiring a license to operate a taxicab business in the city shall make application in writing to the City Council in the general form required for all applications for licenses and shall also give the following additional information:
(1) Previous experience in such business, if the applicant has not been licensed before; and
(2) Number of taxicabs to be operated.
(B) License fee. Initial license fees shall be $150, and renewal fees shall be $100.
(C) Qualifications of applicant.
(1) An applicant for a license, under this section, shall be at least 18 years of age and of sound physique and free from any infirmity that would affect his or her ability to properly drive a taxicab.
(2) An applicant for a license, under this subchapter, shall have been a resident of the city or have resided within 25 miles of the corporate limits of the city for a period not less than 30 days. The Council may, in its sound discretion, waive the residence requirement upon satisfactory proof of good character of the applicant.
(D) False statements in application for license under subchapter. Any license issued under the provisions of this chapter shall be revoked by the chief law enforcement officer upon discovery of any false statement made in the application for such license.
(E) License issuance. The City Council shall approve the issuance of a license applied for under this subchapter if it is satisfied that the applicant has met the following requirements:
(1) He or she is a fit person to engage in such business; and
(2) His or her vehicles and equipment are consistent with the safety of the public.
(F) Unlawful use. All licenses issued under this subchapter shall be subject to revocation at any time by the City Council; if any taxicab operated or used by the licensee shall be used for the delivery or transportation of intoxicating liquor or for any other unlawful purpose, upon such revocation, the city shall retain the license fee paid.
(Prior Code, Ch. 18.2) Penalty, see § 10.99