(A) Unlawful to operate without certification. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a taxicab over and upon the streets of the town without first having applied for and secured from the Board of Alderpersons a certificate of convenience and necessity as hereinafter set forth.
(B) Application. Every person desiring to operate a taxicab within the town shall file, on forms supplied by the Town Clerk, an application for a certificate of convenience and necessity. A fee according to a regularly adopted fee schedule of the town shall be paid to the town for each application to defray some of the advertising and other administrative expenses involved.
(C) Board of Alderpersons to issue certificates. The Board of Alderpersons shall have the power to, and it shall be its duty to order the issuance or the refusal to issue certain certificates of convenience and necessity for the operation of taxicabs. The Board may attach to the exercise of the privileges granted by the certificates the terms and conditions as in its judgement the public convenience and necessity may require.
(D) Nature and duration of certificate. A certificate shall constitute a franchise from the town for the operation of taxicabs within the town, subject to the provisions of this chapter. Certificates shall be for three calendar years, unless a shorter period of time is specified in the certificate. Applications for renewal shall be filed at the expiration of the previous three-year franchise and hearings upon the question of renewal shall be conducted as provided in division (F) below.
(E) Factors considered in issuing permit. In determining whether the public convenience and necessity require the franchising of the taxicab or taxicabs, the Board of Alderpersons shall, among other things take into consideration the following factors:
(1) Whether the public convenience and necessity requires the proposed or additional taxicabs within the town;
(2) The financial responsibility of the applicant and the likelihood of the proposed service being permanent, responsible and satisfactory;
(3) The number and condition of equipment;
(4) The schedule of proposed rates to be charged;
(5) The number of taxicabs now operated within the town and the demand for increased service, if any;
(6) Whether safe use of the streets by the public, both pedestrian and vehicular, will be preserved, and whether adequate provision has been made for off-street parking of the taxicabs;
(7) The experience of the applicant in the taxicab business; and
(8) The other relative facts as may be deemed necessary or advisable to consider.
(F) Investigation. Before making any decision with respect to the issuance of any certificate of convenience and necessity, the Board of Alderpersons or a committee thereof, shall make a full and complete investigation of all pertinent facts, and may, if it so desires, subpoena witnesses and utilize the services of the Chief of Police or any other officer or employee of the town.
(G) Hearing; notice. Each application for a certificate shall be scheduled for a hearing not later than 45 days after the same is filed, and the applicant shall be notified by the Town Clerk by mail at the business address set forth in the application of the day, time and place of the hearing. The notice shall be sent at least ten days prior to the hearing. The Town Clerk shall also, within the same time, notify all persons who at that time hold certificates of convenience and necessity for the operation of taxicabs within the municipality of the day, time and place of the hearing, and of the name of the applicant. In addition, the Town Clerk shall cause to be published, within the same time, at least once in a newspaper of general circulation, or posted for ten days in three public places within the town, a notice setting forth the name of the applicant and the purpose, day, time and place of the hearing. The cost of the notice will be paid in advance by the applicant.
(H) Burden of proof. The burden of proof shall be upon the applicant to establish the fact that the public convenience and necessity requires the operation of the taxicabs specified in his or her application, as well as other facts requisite to the granting of a certificate.
(I) Failure to begin operations. If a certificate is granted to an applicant, and the applicant fails to begin operation in accordance with the provisions of the certificate within 60 days after the date of the certificate, then the certificate shall become null and void.
(1992 Code, § 113.02) (Ord. O-50-05119798, passed 5-11-1998) Penalty, see § 10.99