Unless otherwise expressly stated, whenever used in this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings indicated:
AREA FOR IMPOUNDED MOTOR VEHICLES
Any City-owned property or privately owned property in the City of Mount Vernon, whether enclosed or not, which is used in whole or in part for the keeping or storing of impounded motor vehicles as defined herein.
COMMISSIONER
The Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety of the City of Mount Vernon.
CRIMINAL HISTORY INFORMATION
A record of pending criminal charges, pending arrests, and criminal convictions, but shall not include convictions which were vacated or reversed, convictions resolved in an applicant's favor, youthful offender adjudications, and sealed records.
[Added 10-28-2015, approved 10-28-2015]
IMPOUNDED MOTOR VEHICLES
Motor vehicles which have been seized or removed from a public highway without the knowledge or consent of the owner or operator thereof and towed or taken to an area for impounded motor vehicles without the consent of the owner or operator of such vehicle.
MOTOR VEHICLE
As defined in § 125 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York, excluding trailers, semitrailers and tractors, and trucks weighing over two tons, unladen.
OWNER
A. 
Any person, firm, corporation or other venture owning, operating or controlling the use of one or more tow trucks offered for hire upon the streets of the City, or their agents, servants and/or employees operating said tow trucks.
B. 
Any person, firm, corporation or other venture who tows or causes to be towed any motor vehicle into an area for impounded motor vehicles.
PRIVATE PARKING LOT
[Added 5-8-1996, approved 5-9-1996]:
A. 
An open-air parking area that is accessory to a residential or nonresidential building and which is not used by the general public, either with or without the payment of rent or charges; or
B. 
An open-air parking area which is accessory to the principal use of the premises or of adjacent or nearby premises and which is used by the general public, with or without the payment of rent or charges.
PUBLIC PARKING LOT
An open-air parking area that is used by the general public, with the payment of rent or charges, and where service station and motor fuel filling station facilities, if any, are clearly incidental to the principal use for storage.
[Added 5-8-1996, approved 5-9-1996]
SCHEDULE
The card, sign or poster on which is printed the charges for towing vehicles and preparing vehicles for tow in the City and the storage charges as established in this chapter.
TOW TRUCK
Any vehicle used in the business of pushing, pulling or towing motor vehicles for hire, except a tow truck owned and operated by any public authority or municipal, state or county government or owned and operated by a public transit corporation or a corporation subject to the provisions of the Transportation Corporation Law and/or the Public Service Law of the State of New York, or vehicles used exclusively for towing disabled motor vehicles which are owned, leased or operated by the owner or lessee of the towing vehicle or by a person, firm or corporation which is affiliated with the owner or lessee of the towing vehicle, and which such vehicles have legibly inscribed on each side, in letters not less than three inches high, the legend "Not for Public Hire."
TOW TRUCK DRIVER'S LICENSE
Permission granted by the City to a person to drive a licensed tow truck upon the streets of the City.
TOW TRUCK LICENSE
Permission granted by the City of Mount Vernon to an owner to operate a tow truck for hire within the City.
The Commissioner of Public Safety may make and promulgate such additional rules and regulations and prescribe such forms as he shall deem necessary to carry out the intent and provisions of this chapter, same to become effective 10 days after filing same with the City Clerk. Such rules and regulations shall include a prescribed procedure for the dispatch by the Police Department of tow trucks to the scene of an accident and appropriate records shall be kept for the public inspection of each such dispatch in a book created specifically for said purpose.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed or construed to legalize, validate or sanction the seizure and towing or taking of motor vehicles into an area for impounded motor vehicles.
A tow truck regularly kept during business hours outside the City of Mount Vernon, which is called into the City of Mount Vernon by the owner or operator of a disabled motor vehicle to assist the owner or operator by towing said motor vehicle outside the City of Mount Vernon, is not required to be licensed under the provisions of this chapter.