(a) No person shall drive a taxicab within the City unless he shall have first obtained from the City Manager a taxicab driver's license and unless the taxicab driver's license is in full force and effect; provided, however, that any person duly licensed to drive a taxicab by some other proper governmental authority, but having no taxicab driver's license issued under this chapter may bring passengers into the City by means of such taxicab, but may not accept or offer to accept any passenger for compensation within the City.
(b) Any person intending to engage in the occupation of driving taxicabs for hire for the purpose of transporting persons on the streets of the City shall make application to the City Manager for a taxicab driver's license. The application shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) to cover the cost of a photograph and fingerprints to be taken by the City Police Division. If the taxicab driver's license is issued, it shall be for a period of one year from the date of issue. The applicant must apply for a new license accompanied by a twenty-five dollar ($25.00) nonrefundable application fee prior to license expiration. The application for a taxicab driver's license shall be made in the applicant's own handwriting upon a form to be supplied by the City Manager, which forms, when filled in, shall contain the information required by this chapter. The applicant shall designate the name of the licensed taxicab company for whom he will be providing services.
(c) Upon receiving the application for a driver's license, with the required accompanying material, the City Manager shall obtain from the Police Administrator a report concerning whether the applicant has any of the disqualifying characteristics, as described in Section 862.13(b), and shall determine whether the applicant meets the standards as set forth in this section. No person shall be licensed as a taxicab driver unless he shall:
(1) Be of the age of eighteen years or over;
(2) Be able to communicate in English;
(3) Possess a working knowledge of the traffic laws of the City;
(4) Be authorized or entitled to operate a motor vehicle upon the streets and highways pursuant to the driver's license law of Ohio (i.e. Ohio R.C. Chapter 4507). If all such standards are met and no disqualifying characteristics, as described in Section 862.13(b), are believed to be true of the applicant, the City Manager shall issue a taxicab driver's license to the applicant.
(d) The taxicab driver's license shall be in the form specified in Section 862.12 and all such taxicab driver's licenses shall expire twelve months from the date of issuance.
(e) The City Manager shall deny an application for a taxicab driver's license if the Police Administrator determines that:
(1) The applicant has been convicted of a theft offense within one year.
(2) The applicant has been convicted of a felony theft offense within three years;
(3) The applicant has ever been convicted of a drug sale offense (no time limit);
(4) The applicant has been convicted of a drug abuse offense within one year;
(5) The applicant has been convicted of driving while intoxicated or being in physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol within the past two years;
(6) The applicant has ever been convicted of asexual assault offense (no time limit);
(7) The applicant is a person who has a lengthy or diverse criminal record who, in the opinion of the Police Administrator, should not be issued a taxicab driver's license;
(8) The applicant has within two years prior to filing the application for a license been convicted of, pled guilty to or forfeited bond for four or more moving traffic offenses, whether charged under state law or under the ordinances of any jurisdiction;
(9) The applicant has compiled an unsafe driving record based on a consideration of the applicant's driving prior to the previous three years or has compiled a persistent record of arrests or convictions that exhibit a disregard for the law;
(10) The applicant has had his or her driver's license suspended by a court within the three years preceding the application;
(11) The applicant has had his or her driver's license suspended by administrative action within the three years preceding the application;
(12) The applicant has been adjudged mentally incompetent and has not been legally restored to competency.
For any applicant whose convictions fall within the above limits, the date of conviction shall be deemed to be the later of the actual date of conviction or release from incarceration resulting from the conviction.
(f) No person shall give any fictitious information or practice any fraud, misrepresentation or subterfuge in securing or attempting to secure a taxicab driver's license. Should fraud, misrepresentation or subterfuge be engaged in as a part of securing any license issue based, in whole or in part, upon such false information such taxicab driver's license shall be void.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the City Manager may issue a temporary taxicab drivers license to an applicant pending the Police Administrator completing his investigation of the applicant's record of convictions. The City Manager may revoke a temporary taxicab driver's license at any time and without invoking the procedure described in Section 862.13 of this chapter. The provisions of Section 862.13 of this chapter shall not apply to the revocation of temporary taxicab drivers licenses. Upon revocation , the licensed driver shall surrender his temporary taxicab drivers license to the City Manager. No license fee or portion thereof shall be refunded in the case of any revocation.
(g) No person shall give any fictitious information or practice any fraud, misrepresentation or subterfuge in securing or attempting to secure a taxicab driver's license. Should fraud, misrepresentation or subterfuge be engaged in as a part of securing any license issued based, in whole or in part, upon such false information such taxicab driver's license shall be void.
(Ord. 00-16. Passed 5-15-00.)