As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
DISTRIBUTOR
Any person responsible for placing and maintaining a pay
telephone in a public right-of-way.
PAY TELEPHONE
Any self-service currency or credit operated telephone, including
customer owned or customer leased telephone and including any telephone
owned by the local exchange company or by any other person which is
held out for use by the general public upon payment of a fee or charge
by currency or credit.
PERSON
Any individual, business, firm, corporation, association,
partnership or other organization or group of persons.
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY
Any area dedicated to public use for the purpose of travel
or passage and including streets, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, planting
strips, alleys and roadways.
No person shall place or maintain any pay telephone on or above
any public right-of-way or in any place requiring the user to stand
in or otherwise occupy any public right-of-way in the City of Newburgh
without first having obtained a permit as provided in this chapter.
Pay telephones shall comply with the following standards:
A. No booth surrounding a pay telephone shall exceed eight feet in height,
four feet in width or four feet in depth.
B. Each pay telephone shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism
to permit a person using the telephone to secure an immediate refund
if a call cannot be placed. The coin-return mechanism shall be maintained
in good working order.
C. Each pay telephone shall have affixed to it, in a place visible to
everyone using the telephone, a telephone number of the distributor
and the telephone number of a working telephone service to report
a malfunction, to secure a refund or to give the notices provided
for in this chapter.
D. Pay telephones shall be maintained in a neat and clean condition
and in good repair at all times. Without limiting the generality of
the foregoing, a telephone shall be served and maintained so that:
(1) It is reasonably free of chipped, faded, peeling and cracked paint
in the visible painted areas thereof.
(2) It is reasonably free of rust and corrosion in the visible unpainted
metal areas thereon.
(3) Any clear plastic or glass parts are unbroken and reasonably free
of cracks, dents, graffiti blemishes and discolorations.
(4) Any paper or cardboard parts or inserts are reasonably free of tears,
peeling or fading.
(5) The structural parts thereof are not broken or unduly misshapen.
(6) The telephone receiver is attached to the pay telephone.
E. Any owner or permittee who fails to maintain its pay telephone in
working condition may be given a ten-day notice to repair the telephone
by the City. If the telephone is not in working condition at the end
of the ten-day period, the City Manager may revoke the permit unless
the permittee provides assurance that the telephone shall be repaired
or removed.
F. Each pay telephone shall provide local directory or information assistance
without charge, provided that the distributor is not charged for such
call by the local telephone company.
G. Each pay telephone shall, upon written request of the Chief of Police,
be restricted to outgoing calls only, within 10 days of the request.
Upon receipt of a complaint by a citizen or a representative
of the Police Department that the provisions of this chapter are not
being complied with or that the location and use of a pay telephone
interferes with the health and welfare of the public, the City Manager
shall conduct a hearing, after providing notices of the same to all
affected parties to ascertain if the provisions of this chapter have
been violated or if the use of the pay telephone endangers the health
and welfare of the community. If he finds by a preponderance of the
evidence presented that the use of the telephone constitutes a violation
of the standards and conditions of this chapter or constitutes a threat
to the health and welfare of the public, he shall revoke any permit
issued for the placement of such pay telephone or may also order such
other relief as he deems fair.
The distributor of all existing pay telephones, except those
who operate under a franchise granted by the City and subject to special
franchise assessment for such pay telephone equipment, shall make
application for a permit under the provisions of this chapter within
60 days after the effective date of this chapter.
Any violation of this chapter shall subject the violator to the general penalty provisions provided in §
1-12 of the Code of the City of Newburgh. These penalties shall be in addition to the administrative sanctions in §
275-8.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, word, section or part of
this chapter shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction
to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such judgment shall not
affect, impune or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined
in operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, word, section or
part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment
shall have been rendered.
This chapter shall take effect immediately.