[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.]
[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:
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.
Any person riding in attendance with a patient.
The act of progressing with an ambulance to the scene of need and
transporting a patient to his destination.
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 ambulance operated within the City shall bear the name of the owner
and a unit number.
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.
All vehicles used in the City as ambulances shall conform to the specifications
and requirements set forth in the applicable regulations prescribed by the
State Department of Health.
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.
