Any vehicle used, designed or redesigned for the purpose
of transporting the sick or injured.
The permit issued under division 2 of this article.
A vehicle that is used, designed or redesigned for transporting
the sick or injured and that has sufficient equipment and supplies
for providing basic life support.
The entire width between the boundary lines of every way
publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the
public for purposes of vehicular travel.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 78-65, sec. 1, adopted 6/6/78; Ordinance 85-82, sec. 1, adopted 8/13/85; 1978 Code, sec. 29-20; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 1, adopted 5/27/08)
As a minimum requirement, every ambulance for which an ambulance
permit is issued shall be equipped with the equipment required by
the rules and regulations of the department of state health services
for a state basic life support ambulance permit. Such equipment shall
be permanently labeled in some manner so as to indicate that the equipment
is owned by the ambulance company whose ambulance is being inspected.
The rules and regulations of the state concerning equipment on ambulances
are incorporated by reference as if set out in full at this point.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 85-82, sec. 3, adopted 8/13/85; 1978
Code, sec. 29-24; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 2, adopted 5/27/08)
(a)
Every ambulance, when in service, shall be manned with at least two
(2) EMTs who are currently certified in standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) procedures approved by the American Red Cross or the American
Heart Association.
(b)
Only authorized personnel shall be allowed in the ambulance at any
time. This does not apply to family members of the injured.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 85-82, sec. 4, adopted 8/13/85; 1978
Code, sec. 29-25; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 2, adopted 5/27/08)
Every ambulance shall be equipped with a fully operational two-way
radio communications system.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 78-65, sec. 2, adopted 6/6/78; 1978
Code, sec. 29-27; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
(a)
When the holder of an ambulance permit agrees to respond to an emergency
medical incident, he shall be required to send an ambulance to transport
a sick or injured person from a location within the city to an emergency
medical facility. Ambulances involved in emergency calls shall travel
at a speed no greater than ten (10) miles per hour above the legal
speed limit.
(b)
In the event of a major emergency incident involving multiple casualties
and/or fatalities, the first senior city EMS paramedic to arrive on
the scene or the EMS director/manager shall have complete control
over the medical scene. This senior paramedic or EMS manager shall
have authority to decide which ambulance will transport the patient
or patients and to designate which hospital or medical facility to
which they are to be transported. A designated triage officer is to
be authorized by EMS to triage, tag, arrange for transport and to
see that the patients get transported to the appropriate emergency
medical facility.
(c)
Any ambulance service which refuses to transport or which transports to an emergency medical facility other than one designated by the senior EMS paramedic or triage officer, as provided for in subsection (b), shall result in a two (2) week suspension of the driver’s identification card and permanent suspension of the driver’s identification card for a second offense committed during the term of the card.
(d)
Any ambulance service which wishes to participate in the city’s
rollover program shall enter into an agreement with the city and be
subject to the provisions and requirements contained herein.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 78-7, sec. 1, adopted 1/17/78; Ordinance 87-50, sec. 1, adopted 6/30/87; 1978 Code, sec. 29-28; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
Each ambulance for which a permit is issued shall be inspected
at least once every twelve (12) months to determine compliance with
this article. As many additional inspections as are determined to
be necessary by the public health director or his designee may be
made to insure enforcement of this article.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; 1978 Code, sec. 29-29; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
No person shall operate or drive an ambulance for the purpose
of transporting the sick or injured for hire upon the public streets
of the city unless he is wearing a valid identification card issued
by the public health director or his designee.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; 1978 Code, sec. 29-32; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
Application for a city identification card shall be made in
writing to the public health director or his designee on a form provided
for that purpose. Such application shall give the name, address and
telephone number of the applicant. The applicant must be eighteen
(18) years old, the holder of a driver’s license valid for the
operation of an ambulance in the state and must exhibit proof that
he/she has passed an emergency medical technician course. Such application
must be signed and sworn to before a notary public. Every application
when filed shall be accompanied by a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
No card shall be transferable and every card shall expire one year
from the date of issuance. The card is subject to recall by the public
health director and must be surrendered upon expiration of certification.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 93-9, sec. 1, adopted 2/9/93; 1978
Code, sec. 29-33; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
An ambulance identification card may be suspended for any period of time from one day to thirty 30) days, or may be revoked. The public health director may revoke or suspend an identification card upon a finding that the holder has been convicted of violating any provision of this article or upon conviction of a moving violation of the traffic laws of the state or the city, provided such moving violation occurs while the violator is driving or operating an ambulance, or the holder no longer meets the requirements of section 10.07.008 of this article. Upon suspension or revocation of an identification card the public health director shall give written notice to the holder of the card. The notice shall state the reasons for the proposed revocation or suspension and that the holder of the card may request a hearing. The holder of an identification card may request a hearing within five (5) days of the receipt of notice of suspension or revocation by filing same with the city manager or his designee. The city manager or his designee shall conduct a hearing within fifteen (15) days of the request and may approve the suspension or revocation upon a finding that grounds for suspension or revocation exist under this article or may overrule the suspension. Should a hearing be requested in accordance with this article, the suspension or revocation shall be delayed pending the final decision of the city manager or his designee, which said decision shall be final.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 80-75, sec. 4, adopted 7/29/80; 1978
Code, sec. 29-34; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
A permit holder shall at all times respond to inquiries of the
city by radio regarding the status of each permitted ambulance.
(Ordinance 80-75, sec. 6, adopted 7/29/80; 1978 Code, sec. 29-35; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
The city manager is hereby authorized to establish and adjust
fees for ambulance services consistent with the current payment practices
of Medicare, Medicaid, and the insurance industry. The fees, as established,
shall be charged by the city for services rendered to the public.
(Ordinance 84-42, sec. 1, adopted 3/20/84; 1978 Code, sec. 29-38; Ordinance 07-045, sec. 1, adopted 4/3/07; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 5, adopted 5/27/08)
No person shall drive or operate an ambulance for the purpose
of transporting the sick or injured for hire upon the public streets
of the city unless there is attached to the windshield of such ambulance
a valid ambulance permit issued for such ambulance by the city. There
shall be exempted from the provisions of the permit and license requirements
of this article those ambulances who transport persons from a location
outside the city into the city, those ambulances who pick up a person
inside the city and transport said person outside the city, and those
ambulances who transport persons only through the city.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 79-24, sec. 1, adopted 3/27/79; 1978
Code, sec. 29-21; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 2, adopted 5/27/08)
Every person, partnership or corporation desiring to obtain
an ambulance permit shall make application in writing on a form provided
by the city for that purpose to the public health director or his
designee. Such application shall contain the name, address, and telephone
number of the applicant and the address and telephone number of the
location from which ambulance service will be originated. The application
shall also show the make, model, motor number, correct state license
number and ownership for each ambulance unit to be operated by the
applicant. Every filed application shall be sworn to by the applicant
and shall be accompanied by a permit fee of $250.00 for the company
permit plus $25.00 for each ambulance unit operating within the city.
No permit shall be transferable and every permit shall expire one
year from the date of issuance.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 03-100, sec. 1, adopted 12/9/03; 1978
Code, sec. 29-22; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 2, adopted 5/27/08)
The following conditions are necessary to the issuance of a
permit:
(1)
There shall be in full force and effect a policy or policies of public
liability and property damage insurance, issued by a casualty insurance
company authorized to do business in the state, and in the standard
form approved by the commissioner of insurance of the state, with
coverage provisions insuring the public from any loss or damage that
may arise to any person or property by reason of the operation of
the ambulance for which the permit is issued, and providing that the
amount of recovery shall be in limits not less than the following
sums:
(A)
For damages arising out of bodily injury to or death of one person
in any one accident, one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00);
(B)
For damages arising out of bodily injury to or death of two (2) or
more persons in any one accident, three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000.00);
(C)
For any injury to or destruction of property in any one accident,
one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000);
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The public health director or his designee shall be furnished
with a current insurance certificate certifying that such policy as
specified above is in full force and effect. Such certificate shall
also provide that the city will be given ten (10) days’ notice
of any cancellation;
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(2)
The applicant cannot owe delinquent taxes to the city;
(3)
The applicant has a valid permit issued by the department of state
health services pursuant to chapter 773, Health and Safety Code; and
(4)
The applicant, an employer or any employee of the applicant, or any
person residentially domiciled with the applicant, an employer or
any employee of the applicant has not had an ambulance permit revoked
within one year preceding the date of application.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 78-70, sec. 1, adopted 6/20/78; 1978
Code, sec. 29-23; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 2, adopted 5/27/08)
An ambulance permit may be suspended by the public health director
for any period of time from one day to thirty (30) days, or may be
revoked. The public health director shall give written notice of suspension
or revocation to the holder of an ambulance permit. The notice of
suspension shall include the dates of the proposed suspension and
the reasons therefor. The notice of revocation shall include the reasons
for the proposed revocation. The holder of an ambulance permit may
request a hearing by written notice to the city manager or his designee
within five (5) days of the receipt of notice of suspension or revocation.
Upon receipt of a written request for hearing, the city manager or
his designee shall notify the permit holder of the time and place
for a hearing to be held not less than five (5) nor more than fifteen
(15) days after receipt of request for hearing. After hearing, the
city manager or his designee may, upon a finding that one or more
grounds for revocation or suspension exist, revoke or suspend the
permit. If no ground for revocation or suspension is found by the
city manager or his designee, he shall overrule the revocation or
suspension. A record shall be made of any hearing held under this
section, and all costs associated with such hearing and record shall
be paid by the permit holder. Impossibility of performance shall be
the only defense to revocation for failing to send an ambulance when
requested to transport a sick or injured person from a location within
the city to an emergency medical facility within the city. The city
manager or his designee shall render his decision in writing within
ten (10) days of the conclusion of the hearing. The following shall
be grounds for revocation or suspension of an ambulance permit by
the city manager or his designee:
(1)
The permit holder or an employee of the permit holder has violated
any provision of this article;
(2)
The permit holder or an employee of the permit holder has misused
information received from a broadcast on the city’s emergency
radio frequency for his own benefit, or the benefit of another person,
in connection with the operation of an ambulance;
(3)
The permit holder has allowed a person not holding a valid city identification
card to operate the ambulance for the purpose of transporting a sick
or injured person or persons on the public streets of the city;
(4)
The permit holder or an employee of the permit holder has, in the
provision of ambulance service, violated the zoning ordinance of the
city.
(Ordinance 78-2, sec. 1, adopted 1/3/78; Ordinance 78-7, sec. 2, adopted 1/17/78; Ordinance 80-75, sec. 3, adopted 7/29/80; 1978 Code, sec. 29-30; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
Appeal of the decision to revoke or suspend an ambulance permit
by the city manager or his designee shall be made to the city council
and shall be heard only upon the record made of the hearing before
the city manager or his designee. The substantial evidence rule shall
apply. The city council shall hear said appeal upon receipt of a request
in writing for such appeal received within fifteen (15) days after
the date of the decision of revocation by the city manager or his
designee. The record of the hearing before the city manager or his
designee shall be attached as a part of the request for appeal to
the city council. The decision of the city council shall be final.
(Ordinance 78-7, sec. 3, adopted 1/17/78; Ordinance 80-75, sec. 5, adopted 7/29/80; 1978
Code, sec. 29-31; Ordinance 08-046, sec. 4, adopted 5/27/08)
