MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE
TAXICAB COMMISSION OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA
JULY 23, 2012
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mr. Chris Anderson, Ms. Amy Askew, Mr. Peter Bowden, Ms. Gloria Brown, Mr.
Billy Craft, Mr. Michael Donnelly, Mr. Edward Gibson, Mr. Matthew Probst, and
Mr. Luis Rodriguez
MEMBERS ABSENT:
None
VISITORS: Mr. Jeff Johnson, Ms. Saundra Hunter, and Mayor Teresa Tomlinson
A meeting of the Taxicab Commission was held in the Ground Floor Conference
Room of the Government Center. Deputy City Manager Goodwin was present and
called the July 23, 2012 meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Approval of Minutes:
None
A) Introductions:
DCM Goodwin asked everyone to introduce themselves - All members introduced
themselves, beginning with Ed Gibson, Columbus Airport; Sgt. Chris Anderson,
Columbus Police Department; Peter Bowden, Convention and Visitors Bureau;
Matthew Probst, Liberty Taxi Service; Luis Rodriguez, Special Ops Cab; Billy
Craft, Driver Position; Michael Donnelly, Residence Inn by Marriott; Gloria
Brown; Amy Askew, Columbus Chamber of Commerce. DCM Goodwin then stated there
are others present who are not on the board; Saundra Hunter, Metra Transit
System introduced herself; Lt. Frosty Ross, Columbus Police Department
introduced himself and stated he was a past member of the board; DCM Goodwin
then introduced Lauren Vance, who is my assistant and will now serve as the
board secretary for the commission.
B) Welcome from Mayor:
Mayor Teresa Tomlinson introduced herself and stated it is great to have
everyone here and we?re so glad we could get this back together. The Mayor made
some brief comments relative to the commission.
C) Swearing In:
Mayor Tomlinson swore in the Commission.
D) Packet Review:
Ms. Goodwin discussed the packet made for each board member and let them know
there was quite a bit of information in it. There is a copy of the ordinance,
a copy of all the members of the Taxicab Commission, Lauren has your contact
information; e-mail, telephone numbers; we also have a couple of items that
were given out by some taxicab owners, drivers that came to city council and we
wanted you to be privy to this information. There is also a copy of the minutes
of the last meeting of this commission, which was, January 7, 2009. There are
two copies of draft ordinances, as well, that we will be dealing with.
E.) Organizing the Commission:
The next thing we have to do before we go into the New Business, is to organize
this commission. We would like to go ahead and appoint or nominate a chair and
a vice chair in the event that the chair is unable to attend a meeting. We have
your board secretary Lauren Vance, but at this time, I would like to entertain
a nomination from the floor from the members of a person who might wish to
chair the commission.
Matthew Probst volunteered to be chair and Luis Rodriguez volunteered as vice
chair.
DCM Goodwin then asked for a vote for Mr. Probst and Mr. Rodriguez to become
chair and vice chair. All in favor. No oppositions.
At the next meeting, they will serve in their official capacity.
F) Overview of Taxicab Ordinance:
Ms. Goodwin wants to make sure everyone understands what was in the ordinance.
Briefly, we?ll go over what?s in the document, but please take this home, look
over it and any questions that you have, feel free to stop me and if I can?t
answer the question, the Mayor or Lt. Ross who has been serving; we will get
you that answer, that?s why I have your contact information and your e-mails,
and we will make sure we get you the information needed if we can?t respond to
you today. DCM Goodwin briefly provided an overview of the ordinance.
G) Purpose of the Commission:
Ms. Goodwin discussed the purpose of the commission and what they are charged
to do. To properly educate as to serving the public and ensuring that drivers
are courteous to citizens, that they are familiar with the territory of
Columbus, Georgia and ensuring that taxicab company owners and drivers maintain
cleanliness and safety of all taxicabs and show the ordinance and provisions
including regulations of governing taxicab fees and charges are followed by all
drivers and taxicab owners.
The Mayor stated, I think if people go through and take this home and read it,
paragraph by paragraph and make notes of what doesn?t apply anymore and what
needs to be changed and looked at, then come back next time; depending when you
meet, but go through and have the City Attorney come next time and they could
help draft it for you in the legal language; once you tell them what kind of
idea you want them to draft, they can draft it for you, bring it back, then you
can tweak it and get that to Council. I would suggest getting your foundation
straight first, before you start launching off; trying to do some other things.
Matthew Probst asked if the meetings were open to the public. The Mayor stated
they are open to the public and if we had a big issue come up; like the gas
fees, you might have to have the meeting somewhere else. A lot of people would
probably want to come.
(H) Frequency of Meeting:
Ms. Goodwin said let?s talk about how frequent we need to have our meetings. I
think by the way it was initially set up; I think you met quarterly.
Lt. Ross then explained that the meetings started out monthly, and eventually
went to quarterly.
After some discussion, the Board decided to meet once a month at 4:00p.m.
The Mayor then excused herself from the meeting.
Sgt. Anderson explained that Mondays and Fridays are bad days for him.
Luis Rodriguez agreed with Sgt. Anderson that Mondays and Fridays will not work
for him as well. It was agreed that we would look at Tuesday ? Thursday for our
regular meetings. Day to be determined.
(I) Contract Process:
Amy Askew said you had mentioned going to White?s Automotive and having to go
there every year for inspections; is that the only place that ya?ll can go?
Luis Rodriguez agreed and said that?s one of my concerns also due to
impartiality.
Lt. Ross explained that White?s is under contract and the contract process with
the City requires the City to put out the invitation to forty or fifty
business; anybody that is interested in doing this job and for the twelve years
that I?ve been here nobody has even shown an interest in doing it.
Ms. Goodwin then asked Lt. Ross what was the term of the contract?
Lt. Ross then said the contract is a two year term renewable for three years.
So, it?s about every five years. It?s actually due to come up this October.
It?s expended all of the original contract and the extended years and so in
October it?s due to come up.
Ms. Goodwin asked Lt. Ross to provide her with a copy of the contract.
Ed Gibson asked about what the contract dealt with.
Sgt. Anderson then explained what happened during an inspection at White?s
Automotive as well as the police department.
The Board also discussed the inspection of meters and how they can sometimes be
tampered with by the drivers.
Ms. Goodwin then wanted to discuss the fare rates and how citizens know what
the fares are.
Matthew Probst began discussing how the seal process works to protect the
meters from fares being changed by drivers.
Ms. Goodwin then stated all of this will be discussed at further meetings and
we will have the City Attorney meet with us in August.
Meeting adjourned @ 5:02 p.m.
________________________________
Lauren Vance
Board Secretary
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