For the purpose of this chapter, certain words and terms are defined as follows:
(a) "Tow vehicle" or "tow truck" means any truck or other vehicle adapted or used for the purpose of towing, winching, carrying or otherwise removing another vehicle for commercial purposes.
(b) "Towing firm" or "tow truck owner" means a natural person, partnership, corporation, fiduciary, association or other entity owing, operating or conducting the business of towing vehicles.
(c) "Towing" means the moving or removing and/or preparation thereof by actual physical connection of a vehicle by another vehicle.
(d) "Vehicle" means any motorized equipment licensed under the laws of the State of Ohio or any similar licensing laws of any other State of the United States.
(e) "License" means any license, permit or authority required by the Codified Ordinances for towing vehicles.
(f) "Person" means every natural person, partnership, corporation, fiduciary, association or other entity.
(g) Whenever used in any clause, the singular pronoun shall include the plural and vice versa, and the masculine shall include the feminine and neuter and vice versa.
(h) "Premises" means the location upon which the headquarters office of a tow truck owner is located and/or towed vehicles are stored or impounded.
(i) "Storage" means the custody and control of a vehicle by a tow truck operator.
(Ord. 6399-93. Passed 3-22-93.)
(j) “Nonconsensual Tow” means the tow of a vehicle ordered by the Police Department due to, but not limited to, the following: abandonment, arrest of the vehicle owner, disabled mechanically in the roadway creating a traffic hazard with the vehicle owner having no preference of service provider, or being removed and stored for safekeeping following a motor vehicle accident in which the vehicle owner is unresponsive to elect who they request to the disabled vehicle. “Nonconsensual Tow” shall not include the recovery of the vehicle back to the roadway or any cleanup of debris and fluids.
(k) “Recovery” means when the vehicle is overturned or has left the paved municipal road, freeway, or other hard surface and is not readily accessible to the tow truck without the use of extra equipment and labor to recover the vehicle back to the paved roadway. (Ord. 8011-15. Passed 2-23-15.)