AMBULANCE
Any licensee-owned or -operated specially equipped vehicle which,
for compensation, is used to transport the sick or injured.
AMBULANCE OPERATOR or OPERATOR
Any person who, for compensation, is engaged in the business of furnishing
ambulance service(s) for the transport of sick or injured persons and who
has obtained a license pursuant to this chapter.
EMERGENCY CALL
A dispatch for a prompt response to furnish ambulance service as
a result of injury or sickness to a person or persons, which requires immediate
medical or surgical treatment in a hospital or other emergency medical treatment
facility.
The preservation and improvement of the quality of the natural and man-made
environment within the Town of Lake George in the face of population growth,
accompanied by an increased need in emergency ambulance services, is found
to have an increasing and vital effect on the health, welfare, and economic
well-being of present and future inhabitants and requires forthright
action by the Town Board of the Town of Lake George. Operating within the
Town of Lake George is a volunteer ambulance service. The Board has found
that for-profit ambulance services are responding to calls within the Town
of Lake George that they are not dispatched to and such situation creates
a conflict and danger to the residents with a local volunteer ambulance service
because both ambulance services are responding to some of the same emergency
medical situations. The Town Board of the Town of Lake George, through the
enactment of this chapter, hereby establishes a permitting, licensing, and
regulatory scheme to protect the health, welfare, and well-being of its present
and future residents and visitors.
No person or business shall engage in the business of ambulance service
operator within the Town of Lake George without first obtaining a license
as hereinafter provided.
Exemptions from the provisions of this chapter shall be:
A. Ambulances owned and/or exclusively controlled by any
federal, state, county, or other governmental agency;
B. Private vehicles used in the transportation of the convalescent
from hospital to home or from home to outpatient clinic;
C. Private vehicles used in the transportation of the infirm
or crippled to and from places for rehabilitory therapy;
D. A physician, resident intern and registered nurse; and
E. A volunteer ambulance service operating within the geographic
boundaries of the Town of Lake George.
No ambulance or ambulance service operator shall respond to any call
within the Town of Lake George without first being dispatched by an authorized
federal, state, county, or local governmental agency. Furthermore, responses
within the Town of Lake George shall be in accordance to the Warren County
Sheriff Department Emergency Medical Priority Dispatch System (Priority 1,
Priority 2, Priority 3).
All ambulance operators who shall operate a licensed ambulance within
the geographic boundaries of the Town of Lake George shall procure a public
liability policy, to be issued by an insurance company authorized to do business
in the State of New York, to provide liability coverage at levels determined
from time to time by the Town Board. Such policy, or a duly certified copy
thereof, shall be delivered to the Town Clerk of the Town of Lake George before
or at the time of issuance of a license. No ambulance shall be operated within
the Town of Lake George unless such public liability insurance policy continues
in good standing. In the event of any material alteration or cancellation
of any such policy, at least 20 days’ notice thereof shall be given
to the Town Clerk of the Town of Lake George.
All ambulances operated within the geographic boundaries of the Town
of Lake George shall be equipped and maintained consistent with the requirements
of Part 800 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations, Sections 800.21
through 800.26.
The license of an ambulance operator may be suspended or revoked for
any of the following causes:
A. Failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter
or the rules and regulations of the Town Board of the Town of Lake George;
B. Solicitation of business for attorneys or tow truck companies;
C. Removal and retention of property, money, or other assets
belonging to a patient;
D. Unprovoked assaults in the discharge of duties;
E. On-duty use of alcohol and/or illegal or nonprescription
drugs;
F. Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude; and
G. Responding to any call within the Town of Lake George
without first being dispatched by a duly authorized representative of a federal,
state, county, or local governmental agency.