(a) The Director of the Department of Public Works and Utilities shall have the authority to enter into contracts with one or more persons, subject to the conditions set forth in the contract and this chapter, the privilege of installing and maintaining pay telephones in the public right-of-way. The Director of the Department of Public Works and Utilities may also contract for the removal of telephones illegally installed or maintained in the public right-of-way. Any such contract may be approved as to form and legality by the Chief Legal Officer for the City. In the administration of this section, the Director of the Department of Public Works and Utilities shall consult and cooperate with all appropriate City departments. The Director may at any time cause to be advertised a request for proposals relating to such contracts.
(b) Such contracts and the methods of awarding such contracts shall, to the greatest extent possible, be designed to:
(1) Discourage illegal drug sales and other criminal activity that are sometimes associated with and facilitated by pay telephones in the public right-of- way;
(2) Reduce the disturbances that pay telephones may tend to promote in residential areas;
(3) Reduce visual clutter in the public right- of-way;
(4) Reduce the unnecessary obstruction of pedestrian and vehicular traffic;
(5) Ensure the availability of pay telephones where they are needed for lawful purposes; and
(6) Provide adequate access to pay telephones by disabled persons; and
(7) Generate revenue for the City.
In addition to those considerations, the contracts may generate revenue for the City.
(c) Any contract entered into pursuant to this section shall provide that the privileges granted by the contract are subject to the City Council’s authority to order the removal of a pay telephone pursuant to subsection (f) of this section. Any such contract shall also permit the City Council or the Finance Director to require pay telephone in the public right-of-way to have special features designed to reduce criminal activity. In addition, the contract must provide that the Council member for the ward in which the pay telephone is located is notified of the location of any pay telephone that is to be situated in the public right- of-way in his or her ward pursuant to this section. No person shall be awarded a contract under this section unless the person has a valid certificate of service authority to provide pay telephone service granted by the State of Michigan Public Service Commission where required by law.
(d) No person may install a pay telephone in a public right-of-way on or after the effective date of this chapter unless the installation is made pursuant to a contract entered into under this section. Beginning as soon as practicable after the adoption of this chapter, no pay telephone may remain the public right-of-way other than pursuant to a contract entered into under this section. Any telephone installed or maintained in violation of this paragraph shall be subject to immediate removal at the owner’s expense by the City. However, in the case of a telephone deemed to be in the public right-of-way as a result of this amendatory chapter, no such pay telephone shall be removed until at least seven days after a representative of the City has affixed a notice on the telephone stating that it will be subject to removal within seven days of the date of posting of notice. A list of the locations at which such pay telephones are scheduled to be removed shall be made available for public inspection at least seven days prior to the removal of the telephones on that list.
(e) No later than 30 days after the effective date of this section, every person who owns or maintains a pay telephone in the public right-of-way must file with the Director of the Department of Public Works a list of the locations of all such telephones owned or maintained by that person. Within ten days of the adoption date of this section every person who maintains a pay telephone that is considered to be in the public right-of-way as a result of this amendatory section must filed with the Director a list of the location of those telephones. Any pay telephone in the public right-of-way that does not appear on such a list shall be subject to immediate removal at the owner’s expense by the City beginning 31 days after the effective date of this section.
(f) The City Council may at any time after the effective date of this chapter, if pursuant to a contract under this section, by notice order the removal of a particular pay telephone that is in the public right-of- way. Such a notice must identify the location of the telephone to be removed. Any pay telephone that is not removed within 14 days after a notice for its removal is posted shall be subject to immediate removal at the owner’s expense by the City.
(g) Any pay telephone removed by the City pursuant to this section may be reclaimed by its owner within 30 days after its removal. The owner must reimburse the City for its removal and storage costs before any such telephone may be reclaimed. Such costs shall also include the costs of removing any installation ancillary to the pay telephone, and the costs of restoring the public right-of-way to its original condition. Any telephone not so reclaimed may be disposed of as unclaimed property. Any contract for the removal of one or more pay telephones may include a provision, in a form subject to the approval of the Chief Legal Officer for the City, for indemnification of the City by the contractor against claims and liabilities arising out of performance under the contract.
(h) Any person who installs or maintains a pay telephone in violation of this section shall be subject to a fine of not less than $50 and not more than $200 for each offense. Each day that the violation continues shall constitute a separate offense. However, for the period ending six months after the effective date of this amendatory section, no fine shall be imposed with respect to a telephone considered in the public right- of-way as the result of this amendatory section unless a removal notice has been posted on the telephone pursuant to this section, or unless the locations of the telephone appears on a list of locations scheduled for removal made available pursuant to this section.
(i) As used in this section, “pay telephone” means any publicly accessible self-service or coin or credit card operated telephone; and “public right-of- way” has the meaning ascribed to the term in section. For purposes of this section, a pay telephone will be considered in the public right-of-way beginning on the effective date of this section if any portion of the telephone or its enclosure is situated on or projects or hangs over the public right-of-way; or the telephone is so situated that it can be used by a person standing on the public right-of-way.
(j) The Finance Director shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations to implement this article.
(k) No provision of this article or any contract issued pursuant to this article may be applied to any transaction in interstate commerce to the extent that such business may not, under the Constitution and Statutes of the United States, be made the subject of regulation by the City.
(Ord. 3309, passed 9-25-1995; Ord. 3786, passed 12-13-2010)