ORDAINANCE NO. 3.06

AN ORDINANCE TO LICENSE AND REGULATE TAXICABS AND AUTOMOBILES FOR HIRE WITHIN THE CITY OF CRYSTAL FALLS, IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

THE CITY OF CRYSTAL FALLS ORDAINS:

SECTION 1. Every automobile or taxicab kept, used, driven or employed within and upon the streets or alleys of the City of Crystal Falls, for the transportation of persons or passengers from place to place, for hire, except common carriers as hereinafter defined, shall be deemed a public vehicle within the meaning of this ordinance and no person, person, firm or corporation shall keep, operate or use any such public vehicle without having first obtained a license therefor from the Clerk of the City of Crystal Falls, as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 2. Any person or person, firm or corporation, of good character, may obtain a license for the operation of such public vehicles by making application, in writing, to the City Clerk, conforming to the requirements herein specified and by paying the fees hereinafter fixed. Such application shall be made upon such blanks as the City shall determine and shall contain the name of the person, persons, firm or business of such person, persons, firm or corporation desiring to operate such vehicle or vehicles, the location of the place of business of such person, persons, firm or corporation, a description of the public vehicle or vehicles so intended to be operated, the date of the expiration of the license, which shall in every year be the first day of June following the issue of such license, and such application shall be signed by the owner or owners of such public vehicle or vehicles.

SECTION 3. All licensees shall pay an annual license fee of One Dollar ($1.00) for each automobile or taxicab license hereunder.

SECTION 4. Any and all taxi stands or taxi zones shall be established by the order of the City Manager and Chief of Police, and suitable signs designated said zones shall be provided by said City.

SECTION 5. It shall be the duty of every owner or owners of such public vehicles to have none but competent persons, not less than eighteen (18) years of age, to drive any such public vehicle and such owner or owners shall be held liable and responsible for all acts and doings of such drivers and for all negligence of such drivers, and for all violations of this ordinance by said drivers, and no person shall be permitted to drive or operate any such vehicle when such person shall be or is in a state of intoxication or under the influence of intoxicating liquors.

SECTION 6. No owner or driver of any such public vehicle, while waiting for employment, shall refuse or neglect, when application is made to him, to convey any person or persons to any place or places within the City of Crystal Falls, and when any person or persons shall be seated in any such conveyance, the same shall be driven by the most direct route to the place to which such person or persons wish to go and not elsewhere, and at a reasonable rate of speed, and no owner or driver of such licensed vehicle shall permit any number of persons to ride in or upon such vehicle in excess of two (2) more than the standard rated carrying capacity of such vehicle.

SECTION 7. For the purposes of this ordinance, a common carrier is defined to be a public motor vehicle used in the business of transporting the general public or property for hire upon or over the streets and alleys of this city, over fixed routes and at fixed times.

SECTION 8. No person, co-partnership or corporation shall operate any such automobile or taxicab for the transportation of passengers for hire, unless there shall have been first filed with the City Clerk of said City of Crystal Falls, a liability contract of insurance, issued to him or them by an insurance company organized under the laws of the State of Michigan or authorized to transact business therein, providing among other things for the payment of any final judgement that may be rendered against the insured for damages or collision, for which said person, persons, partnership or corporation may be liable while operating the vehicles described therein; said liability contract of insurance to be obtained for each taxicab or automobile or other motor vehicle for which a license is sought, within the provisions hereof, by reason of and growing out of the negligent operation of such taxicab, automobile or motor vehicle, in the sum of not less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) to any one person, or Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) to more than one person, as a result of one accident. It shall be the duty of every person, persons, partnership or corporation to keep such insurance in force during the life of such license and such person, persons, partnership or corporation shall give to the City Clerk, of said City of Crystal Falls, five (5) days notice, in writing, of any proposed cancellation of the license issued, and such license shall thereupon become null and void and no vehicle described herein shall be operated until a new policy of insurance shall be duly filed. Such policy contract of insurance shall describe each motor vehicle by factory number, maker’s name, rated seating capacity, and number of passengers capable of being accommodated therein at one time, the number of state license and city license under the issuance of a new one, it shall be indicated upon said policy of insurance by the affixing thereto of a rider.

SECTION 9. Any license issued pursuant to the provisions of this ordinance may be revoked and annulled by the mayor or by a majority vote of the city commission of said City of Crystal Falls, at any time, for a violation of any of the provisions of this ordinance or a refusal or neglect of the licensee, or any one under his or their control, to comply with any of the provisions of this ordinance.

SECTION 10. All monies received for license fees under this ordinance shall be credited to the street fund.

SECTION 11.

Any person violating this ordinance shall be deemed to have committed a civil infraction, subject to the payment of civil fines of $50.00 plus costs, for the first violation.

Any repeat offense shall be subject to increased fines, as follows:

First repeated offense shall be no less than $150.00 plus costs.

A fine for any second repeated offense or any subsequent repeated offense shall be no less than $250.00 plus costs.

SECTION 12. This ordinance shall take immediate effect to provide for the usual daily operation of the City as outlined in Section 2 of the City Charter; further, this is merely a renumbering of an ordinance previously adopted.

Original adoption date: 06/17/46

Amendment to Section 11: 10/14/96 (as written above)