[Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Lake George 5-12-2003
by L.L. No. 1-2003. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Any licensee-owned or -operated specially equipped vehicle which,
for compensation, is used to transport the sick or injured.
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.
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.
A.
Applications for the licenses herein required shall be
made at the office of the Lake George Town Clerk, which application shall
contain the following information which may be amended from time to time by
the Town Board:
(1)
If the applicant is an individual, the name and address
of the applicant;
(2)
If the applicant is a partnership, the business name
of the partnership and the name and address of each partner, whether said
partner is active or inactive;
(3)
If the applicant is a corporation or any other form of
business entity, the name and address of all officers, stockholders, directors,
members or any other financially interested party for whom stock or membership
is held beneficially;
(4)
The place from which it is intended or desired to engage
in the business of ambulance service operator, giving a description of the
premises, as well as the location thereof, and the place where ambulances
will be garaged. The application shall provide and describe the office and
garage wherein the ambulances are maintained and such location shall be in
a place which will permit prompt and continuous ambulance service;
(5)
A detailed description of the number of vehicles the
applicant desires to operate; a description of the kind, make, type, year,
size, model, New York State registration number, motor number, chassis number,
and gross weight of each of the vehicles, and the color scheme to be used
in said business.
(6)
Attached to each application the applicant shall provide
a copy of its written policy, which describes the authorized practices for
driving ambulance response vehicles by their members or employees as required
by NYCRR Part 800.21.
B.
The annual license fee for an ambulance service operator
shall be $25 per year.
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).
A.
The Supervisor of the Town of Lake George shall, upon
approval of the Town Board, issue such license upon the payment of the required
fee and submission and approval of the application set forth herein.
B.
Each license shall expire on December 31 of the year
for which it is issued.
C.
At any time after a license has been issued, the Supervisor
of the Town of Lake George may, either personally or through an authorized
agent, make or cause to be made inspections; and if any ambulance is found
to be in violation of this chapter, the Supervisor may recommend to the Town
Board that proceedings be instituted to revoke or suspend such license.
D.
Any violation of any provision of this chapter shall
be cause for the Town Board to revoke such license.
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.
A.
This chapter shall be deemed an exercise of the powers
of the Town of Lake George to preserve and improve the quality of the natural
and man-made environment on behalf of the present and future inhabitants thereof.
This chapter is not intended and shall not be deemed to impair the powers
of any other public corporation.
B.
If any part or provision of this chapter or the application
thereof to any person or circumstance be adjudged invalid by any court of
competent jurisdiction, such judgment shall be confined in its operation to
the part of provision or application directly involved in the controversy
in which such judgment shall have rendered and shall not affect or impair
the validity of the remainder of this chapter or the application thereof to
other persons or circumstances, and the Town Board of the Town of Lake George
hereby declares that it would have passed this chapter or the remainder thereof
had such invalid application or invalid provision been apparent.
