Columbus, Georgia

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE

TAXICAB COMMISSION OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA

July 7, 2004





MEMBERS PRESENT

Lt. Julius Ross, Ms. Diane Quick, Mr. James Nash, Mr. Robert Kidd, Mr. James

Brooks and Mr. David Cassell.



MEMBERS ABSENT

Chairman Wallace Archie, Mr. Mark Oropeza and Mr. Lorenzo Landrum.









A meeting of the Taxicab Commission was held in the Ground Floor Conference

Room of the Government Center. Lt. Ross, noted that a quorum was present,

called the July 7, 2004 meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. He advised that Chairman

Archie would not be present today; therefore, he was asked to preside over the

meeting.



Minutes:



Minutes of the January 7, 2004 Meeting were previously emailed to all of the

members and distributed around the table. Lt. Ross called for a vote to accept

the minutes. Mr. Kidd made a motion to accept the January 7, 2004 minutes.

Seconded by Mr. Cassell and carried unanimously by those five members present

and voting.



Proposed amended Taxicab Ordinance:

Lt. Ross gave a report of the status of the proposed amended taxicab

ordinance. He spoke of some of the discussions he has had with the City

Attorney?s Office, and has concluded that the final draft style that was handed

out is basically what has been accepted by the City Attorney?s Office. He

mentioned the possibility of including a grandfather clause in the ordinance

for some of the criminal background checks for the taxicab owners, but the City

Attorney?s Office is recommending against that at this point. He determined

that the Council would have to insert the grandfather clause if it is to be

included in the ordinance.



He reported that the final changes to the ordinance have to do with putting the

document in a legal format to submit to the members of Council. There was some

discussion regarding the procedures to be followed regarding the review of the

proposed amended ordinance.



Taxicab Rates

Mr. James Brooks recalled that at the last meeting, the members had a

discussion regarding a change in the rates. The commission members then spent

several minutes recommending rate increase strategies. Mr. Brooks suggested

that the additional person go from $ .50 to $1.00 and the drop increase from

$1.50 to $2.00 and the rate increase from $ .50 every 1/3 mile to $.60.

Several members determined that the recommendation was reasonable in comparison

to other cities across the country.



Mr. Kidd shared with the commission members his research of other taxicab

ordinances relating to taxicab rates. Mr. Brooks also described his encounters

with taxicab drivers in other cities pertaining to how the charges are incurred

by the customer. Lt. Ross called attention to the percentage increase that

would be derived from the potential raise in the rate. He then reminded

everyone that the last rate increase has only been approximately two or three

years ago.



There was some discussion regarding the timeframe for presenting a rate

increase. He projected that the proposed ordinance is near its final stage and

asked for some feed back from the members to determine if the proposed rate

increase should be included in the amended ordinance or sent separately for

action by the Council. Mr. Nash added that it would be his suggestion to

submit the rate increase at the same time as the amended ordinance. He stated

that it would be better served to present them both at once.



After the comment was made by Ms. Quick to incorporate automatic rate increases

into the ordinance, Lt. Ross immediately disagreed with applying automatic

increases out into the future. He explained that we would be making certain

projections. He added that the commission could at any time request a rate

increase.



Lt. Ross pointed out that we need to vote separately on the specified rate

increase and the time at which it would be submitted to the Council.



Mr. Kidd then made a motion to increase the fares to include the drop fee from

$1.50 to $2.00, a fare increase from $.50 to $.60 for every 1/3 mile and we add

the additional .50 for each additional passenger making it $1.00 and leaving

all other charges the same. Seconded by Mr. Brooks and carried unanimously by

those five members present and voting.



Lt. Ross addressed the issue regarding the time frame to submit the rate

increase, at which time, Mr. Cassell made the motion to include the rate

increase change into the proposed amended ordinance. Seconded by Mr. Nash.

There was some additional discussion raised about when the proposed amended

ordinance would be forwarded to Council. The motion was then approved

unanimously by those five members present and voting.





*** *** ***



Lt. Ross said that he would entertain any new or old business that the

commission members would like to discuss. There were none. Lt. Ross then

entertained a motion for adjournment. Mr. Kidd so moved, which was seconded by

Mr. Cassell and carried unanimously at 3:40 p.m.







By: _____________________________

Sandra T. Davis, Recording Secretary