[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Colonial Heights 4-8-1975 as Ch. 3 of the 1975 Code; amended in its entirety 4-14-1987 by Ord. No. 87-5. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fire Department — See Ch. 32.
Police Department — See Ch. 54.
Public Safety Program — See Ch. 59.
Licenses — See Ch. 186.
[1]
Editor's Note: For statutory provisions dealing with ambulances generally, see Code of Virginia, § 32.1-148 et seq. As to powers of cities relating to ambulances, see Code of Virginia, § 32.1-156.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
AMBULANCE
Any privately or publicly owned vehicle, vessel or aircraft that is specially designed, constructed or modified and equipped and is intended to be used for and is maintained or operated to provide immediate medical care to or to transport persons who are sick, injured, wounded or otherwise incapacitated or helpless.
ATTENDANT
Any person riding in attendance with a patient.
CALL or RUN
The act of progressing with an ambulance to the scene of need and transporting a patient to his destination.
CERTIFICATE
Certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the City Council licensing the operation of an ambulance.
The following rules shall govern the general operation of ambulances under a certificate of public convenience and necessity:
A. 
Registration. No person shall operate a motor vehicle as an ambulance unless all required licenses, permits and inspections have been obtained or made.
B. 
Compliance with laws and ordinances. Every ambulance shall be operated in accordance with all applicable laws and ordinances of the commonwealth and the city.
C. 
Terminal required. Every ambulance operated under a certificate on the streets of the City shall have a headquarters terminal, wherefrom ambulances are dispatched and whereto such ambulances shall return by the most direct route.
Each owner must inspect each ambulance every morning to ascertain cleanliness and mechanical and operational worthiness for transporting patients. Each ambulance shall be subject to inspection at all times by an authorized representative of the city.
Any ambulance found by the owner, upon inspection, to be unsafe for ambulance operations shall have such repairs and alterations made as may be required, and such owner shall not operate or cause to be operated any such ambulance until all such repairs and alterations have been completed.
A. 
Record of dispatcher or owner. There shall be maintained for a period of three (3) years a record of all calls, which shall show the patient's name and address, time the call was received, time the ambulance was dispatched, time the ambulance arrived at scene of address, time the ambulance reached the destination of a hospital or medical attention, to what hospital or place of medical attention the patient was transported and the dispatcher's name. The record shall note the condition of the patient, whether or not first aid treatment was administered and whether or not an emergency run was made and the names of the driver and attendant.
B. 
Daily log. A daily log shall be maintained for the purpose of identifying persons transported in any one (1) day.
C. 
Inventory record. In the event that the transport of a deceased person or unconscious person is made, there shall be prepared a written inventory of personal possessions transported, witnessed by the agency receiving the deceased or unconscious person, and such inventory shall be kept on file for a period of two (2) years. Such inventory may be inspected by the person transported or deceased's next of kin and by any governmental agency having authority to make such inspection. A copy of such inventory shall be given to the witnessing agency, if requested.
D. 
Inspections. Records of required inspections of vehicles and equipment shall be kept current and made available to any governmental agency requesting same.
A. 
Every owner operating ambulances under a certificate shall submit to the City Council evidence of public liability and property damage insurance in force with an insurance company licensed to conduct business in this state, in the following minimum amounts:
Type of Coverage
Minimum Amount
Bodily injury
$100,000.00 per person
Bodily injury
$300,000.00 per accident
Property damage
$50,000.00 per accident
B. 
Such owner shall also show that the City is named as an insured on such policies.
The City Council may, from time to time, establish a schedule of rates to be charged for ambulance services, and such schedule shall be maintained on file in the office of the City Clerk. No person owning, operating or controlling an ambulance under a certificate of convenience and necessity shall charge other than the rates established in such schedule.
The following are exempted from the operation of the provisions of this chapter:
A. 
Privately owned vehicles not ordinarily used in the business of transporting persons who are sick, injured, wounded or otherwise incapacitated or helpless.
B. 
A vehicle rendering service as an ambulance in case of a declared major catastrophe or emergency when the number of ambulances being operated pursuant to certificate is insufficient to render the services required.
C. 
Ambulances based outside the commonwealth, except that any such ambulance receiving a patient within this City for transportation to a location within the commonwealth or transporting a patient to a location within this City from a location from within the commonwealth shall comply with the provisions of this chapter.
D. 
Ambulances owned and operated by an agency of the United States government.
E. 
Except as otherwise specifically provided herein, the Emergency Medical Services Division of the Fire Department of the city; provided, however, that said Division shall not provide nonemergency transport without a certificate.
A. 
No person shall operate or cause to be operated an ambulance within the City without first having applied for and obtained a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the City Council authorizing such operation.
B. 
The Emergency Medical Services Division of the City shall be the exclusive provider of emergency transport within the City. Nothing herein shall prevent the City from entering into emergency transport mutual aid agreements with surrounding jurisdictions and organizations.
C. 
Every ambulance or emergency medical services vehicle must possess a valid permit issued by the State Department of Health and shall comply with regulations of the State Board of Health pursuant to Chapter 5, Article 5, of Title 32.1 (§ 32.1-148 et seq.) of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended, a copy of which is to be maintained in the office of the City Clerk.
D. 
All ambulances and emergency medical services vehicles operated in the City shall be operated and staffed by personnel meeting the requirements of above-mentioned regulations of the State Board of Health.
Each person applying to the City Council for a certificate for the operation of one (1) or more ambulances shall file with the Council a sworn application therefor, in triplicate, on forms provided by the Council, stating as follows:
A. 
The name and address of the owner and, in the event that the owner is a corporation, a certified copy of the articles of incorporation.
B. 
The number of vehicles actually owned and the number of vehicles actually operated by such owner on the date of such application, if any.
C. 
The net worth of the owner or applicant over and above all debts, judgments, claims and demands whatsoever.
D. 
Whether there are any unsatisfied judgments of record against such owner and, if so, the title of all actions and the amounts of all judgments unsatisfied.
E. 
The make, type, year of manufacture, serial number and equipment for each ambulance owned or operated by the applicant.
F. 
Court record, if any, of the applicant, provided that if the applicant is a corporation, the court record, if any, of the officers, directors and supervising employees thereof, including the general manager or director, shall be required.
G. 
Whether there are any liens, mortgages or other encumbrances on such ambulances and, if so, the amount and character thereof.
H. 
Such other information as the Council may, in its discretion, require.
Upon receipt of an application for a certificate, the City Council shall fix a time and place for hearing the applicant. No certificate shall be granted unless the Council shall find, after hearing, that the public convenience and necessity require the proposed ambulance service. In determining whether the public convenience and necessity require the operation of an ambulance for which application for a certificate is made, the Council will consider and investigate the statements made in the application, the adequacy of existing ambulance service, the financial responsibility, experience and character of the applicant, the public need for additional service, the ability of existing holders of a certificate to provide any necessary additional service and any other factors pertinent to such determination.
Upon finding that the public convenience and necessity require the proposed ambulance service, the Council shall grant to the applicant a certificate, upon the terms and conditions prescribed by this Article, provided that:
A. 
The applicant shall have complied with all the provisions of this chapter.
B. 
Each ambulance proposed to be operated under such certificate shall be found, after inspection by the Police Department, to meet the requirements of this chapter.
C. 
There is no unsatisfied judgment of record against the applicant.
D. 
The court record, if any, of the applicant is such as would conform to the public interest upon granting a certificate.
In order that any applicant granted a certificate may justify the capital investment essential to the adequate and efficient ambulance service required in the public interest, the term of any certificate granted shall be five (5) years, provided that any certificate granted may be suspended or revoked by the City Council, after a hearing held upon thirty (30) days' notice to any certificate holder for failure to comply with any provision of this chapter. If, upon such hearing, the Council shall find that the certificate holder has corrected any deficiencies and has brought himself into compliance with the provisions of this chapter, the certificate shall not be suspended or revoked. No certificate granted may be sold, assigned or transferred or may in any way vest in any person, other than the applicant to whom the certificate is granted, any rights or privileges under such certificate.