For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall
have the meanings respectively set forth in this section:
is any privately owned vehicle equipped or used for transporting
the wounded, injured, or sick and shall include, but is not restricted
to, emergency vehicles used for such purposes.
is any person engaged in the business of carrying or transporting
wounded, injured, or sick persons for hire over and along public streets.
is the city of Crescent City.
is the city clerk of the city of Crescent City.
is any natural person, firm, partnership, association, company,
corporation, or organization of any kind.
(Prior code § 34-1)
B.
No permit
shall be required of any person who delivers but does not pick up
wounded, injured or sick persons in the city, or who delivers said
persons out of the state, or who does not regularly pick up wounded,
injured, or sick persons in the city. Any person garaging an ambulance
or operating the same from a location in the city or the county who
picks up wounded, injured, or sick persons in the city shall be presumed
to be operating an ambulance service in the city.
(Prior code § 34-2)
Any person desiring to obtain the permit required by Section 5.28.020 shall pay a non-refundable application fee of twenty-five dollars to the city clerk and shall make application for said permit to the city council. The application shall be signed by the applicant and shall set forth:
A.
The
name, business, and address of the applicant;
B.
The
name and address of the owner of the ambulance business;
C.
The
number and type, age, condition, and patient capacity of each ambulance
proposed to be operated by the applicant, stating the make and year
of manufacture;
D.
The fact that such ambulances comply with Vehicle Code Sections 2416, 2418, 21724 and Title 13 of the California Administrative Code, as well as all other state laws and orders applicable to the licensing and operating of emergency vehicles;
E.
The
color scheme, insignia, name, monogram, or other distinguishing characteristics
to be used to designate the private ambulance or private ambulances
of the applicant;
F.
The
location and description of the place or places from which it is intended
to operate and the vehicles are to be stored;
G.
The
schedule of rates proposed to be charged for ambulance service;
H.
The
experience of the applicant in the transportation of wounded, injured,
and sick persons;
I.
The
fact that all operators of ambulance or ambulances shall hold ambulance
driver's certificates issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles of
the state;
J.
Any
facts which the applicant believes tends to prove that public convenience
and necessity require the granting of a permit and such other information
as the city council may require;
K.
Upon
the filing of an application for an owner's permit, the city clerk
shall direct the chief of police to cause an investigation to be made
and file a report within thirty days from the date of filing of the
application. The chief of police shall require the applicant or any
person named in the application to be fingerprinted and photographed.
(Prior code § 34-3)
Upon the filing of a fully completed application for the permit
to engage in the business of operating an ambulance, and receipt of
the report of the chief of police, the city clerk shall present the
application to the city council who shall fix a time for a public
hearing thereon for the purpose of determining whether the public
convenience and necessity require the proposed service. No permit
shall be granted until the council shall, after investigation and
hearing, declare by resolution that the public convenience and necessity
require the proposed service and that the same will promote the convenience,
safety, and welfare of the general public.
(Prior code § 34-5)
Notice of any hearing under this chapter shall be given to all
persons to whom permits for operation of ambulances have been theretofore
issued and the applicant if any. Notice of the time and place of the
public hearing before the city council shall also be given to the
general public by causing a notice of such hearing to be published
in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. One publication
shall be made at least five days before the hearing.
(Prior code § 34-6)
Upon completing its investigation and hearing, the city council
shall grant the applicant a permit if it finds:
A.
That
the color scheme, insignia, name, monogram, or other distinguishing
characteristics proposed to be used upon such ambulance or ambulances
is not in conflict with and does not imitate any color schemes, insignia,
name, monogram, or other distinguishing characteristics used by any
other person, in such manner as to mislead or tend to mislead, deceive
or defraud the public.
B.
That
further ambulance service in the city is required by the public convenience
and necessity and that the applicant is fit, willing, and able to
perform ambulance service and to conform to the provisions of this
chapter, and such rules and regulations as may be promulgated by the
city council. In making such finding the city council shall take into
consideration the number of ambulances already in operation, whether
existing ambulance service is adequate to meet the public need, the
probable effect of increased ambulance service on local traffic conditions,
and the character, experience, and responsibility of the applicant.
(Prior code§ 34-7)
If the city council, by resolution, shall find and declare that
public convenience and necessity require the proposed ambulance service
or will admit additional ambulance service, a permit to that effect
shall be issued by the city clerk to the person or persons entitled
thereto, and the city council in its discretion shall determine the
total number of ambulances which will be operated under such permit.
The permit when issued shall state the name and address of the applicant,
and the date of issuance thereof.
(Prior code § 34-8)
An ambulance operator's permit issued under this chapter shall
continue to be valid from the date of issuance, until the operator
ceases doing business as such, or the permit is suspended or revoked
by the city council for any of the reasons set forth in this chapter.
(Prior code § 34-9)
The city council may at any time revoke, suspend, or change
a permit granted, after notice to and an opportunity of hearing being
given to the holder thereof, if the ambulance operator and/or driver
or attendant fails to operate an ambulance authorized under this chapter
in accordance with the provisions of the applicable state law and
this chapter as now constituted or as the same may be hereafter amended,
or ceases doing business as such. All permits which shall have been
suspended or revoked by the city council shall be surrendered to the
city clerk and the operation of all ambulances covered by such permits
shall cease and the continued operation thereof shall constitute a
violation of this chapter, and a public nuisance.
(Prior code § 34-10)
If the ambulance operator to whom an ambulance operator's permit
has been issued desires to sell or transfer his business, the interested
buyer or transferee shall make application for an ambulance operator's
permit as required by this chapter, accompanied by an affidavit of
seller of intention to surrender and cancel the permit held by such
ambulance operator conditionally upon and concurrently with consummation
of such sale and issuance of a permit in the name of the buyer. If
a buyer-applicant or transferee-applicant for a permit meets all the
requirements set forth in this chapter for issuance of an ambulance
operator's permit, the city council shall issue a new permit to the
buyer-applicant and concurrently therewith cancel the seller's permit.
(Prior code § 34-11)
No owner's permit shall be issued or continued in operation
unless there is in full force and effect a policy of insurance in
such form as the city attorney may deem proper, whereby the owner
and driver of each of the vehicles described in said permit are insured
against liability for damage to property and for injury to or death
of any person as a result of the ownership operation or other use
thereof, the minimum liability limits upon each such vehicle being
not less than five hundred thousand dollars on account of personal
injuries to or death of one or more persons in any one accident, and
the minimum liability limits upon each such vehicle being not less
than fifty thousand dollars for damage to or destruction of property
in any one accident. Such policy of insurance shall contain an endorsement
providing that said policy will not be cancelled until notice in writing
shall have been given to the city, addressed in care of the city clerk,
county courthouse, Crescent City, California, at least thirty days
immediately prior to the time such cancellation shall become effective.
(Prior code § 34-12)
A.
Maximum
Rates. The owner of every ambulance operated in the city shall file
with his application for his owner's permit, a true and correct schedule
of maximum rates to be charged for the transportation of passengers
in any and all vehicles operated by said owner.
B.
Modified
Schedule.
1.
Ambulance
Services Operated and Subsidized Countywide. The city shall not review
modifications to the rate schedule for ambulance services which are
operated throughout the county. The ambulance service is authorized
to charge such rates equal to the rates as approved by the county
for services throughout the county, within the city, upon written
notification to the city clerk of the county's approved modified rate
schedule.
2.
Ambulance
Services Operated Only Within the City or Without a County Subsidy.
The schedule of maximum rates referred to above shall not be increased
without first filing a modified maximum rate schedule with the city
council at least thirty days prior to the effective date of such change
or modification. Within twenty days after receiving the proposed modified
rate schedule, the city council may set a public hearing to determine
whether said proposed modified rate schedule shall be allowed. If
the city council determines that a public hearing shall be held, said
modified rate schedule will not go into effect, until the city council
has held the public hearing and approved the proposed modified rate
schedule. Said public hearing must be held within sixty days of the
date that the modified rate schedule was filed with the city council.
If the city council determines that a public hearing is to be held,
the city clerk is to notify the ambulance operator within ten days
of the council's decision to hold a public hearing of the time and
place for said hearing. The city clerk shall publish in a newspaper
of general circulation a notice that said public hearing to consider
a modified rate schedule is to be held before the city council. Said
notice shall be published at least ten calendar days prior to said
public hearing.
(Prior code § 34-13; Ord. 546, 1978; Ord. 588, 1983)
Every person to whom an owner's permit has been issued shall
regularly and duly operate his or its business during each day of
the license year to the extent reasonably necessary to meet the public
demand for such service. An owner's failure to provide such service
shall be cause for revocation of said permit.
(Prior code § 34-14)
Persons licensed under Chapters 5.04 through 5.20 at the time of enactment of the ordinance codified in this chapter shall not be required to pay the application fee provided in Section 5.28.030 nor shall said persons be required to comply with subsections (J) and (K) of Section 5.28.030. Furthermore, it shall be presumed that the public convenience and necessity require the service of said existing licensed operators and that the same will promote the convenience, safety, and welfare of the general public. The existing operators shall comply with every other section of this chapter not inconsistent herewith.
(Prior code § 34-4)
Violation of this chapter shall constitute an infraction and
further shall be a public nuisance.
(Prior code § 34-15)
