Columbus, Georgia

Georgia's First Consolidated Government

Post Office Box 1340
Columbus, Georgia, 31902-1340
(706) 653-4013
fax (706) 653-4016

Council Members

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE

TAXICAB COMMISSION OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA

APRIL 2, 2008





MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mr. Wallace Archie, Lt. Julius Ross, Mr. James Brooks, Mr. David Cassell, Mr.

Robert Kidd and Ms. Diane Quick.



MEMBERS ABSENT:

Mr. James E. Nash



VISITORS: Jeff Johnston



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

Room of the Government Center. Chairman Wallace Archie noted that a quorum was

present and called the April 2, 2008 meeting to order at 3:10 p.m.



Approval of Minutes:

Chairman Wallace Archie immediately called attention to the January 2, 2008

minutes. Mr. Robert Kidd made a motion for acceptance of the minutes, seconded

by Ms. Diane Quick and approved unanimously by the members present for this

meeting.



Taxicab Public Agenda Request:

Chairman Archie called attention to several applications that were submitted by

Mr. Jeff Johnson to appear before the Commission. Chairman Archie said he would

read each item listed on the applications. He said if there were any questions

from the members of the Commission he would address them and there would be no

more than five minutes of discussion on each topic.



A) One Price Taxi Fare:

Chairman Archie said the first item states, the Taxicab Commission needs to

have only one price for taxi fares. Chairman Archie said his belief is that

the Columbus Taxicab Commission does not set the prices, the Columbus Council

does. He said consequently this has nothing to do with the Columbus Taxicab

Commission. Chairman Archie stated the Columbus Council set one price and it is

the owner?s decision to use it or not.



Lt. Ross informed the Commission that Council had revisited this item and

elected not to make any changes.



B) Drug Test:

In the second item Mr. Johnson made a request for all taxicab drivers to submit

to a drug test after an accident within twelve hours or lose their permit to

drive a taxicab in Columbus. Chairman Archie asked what was the status on this

situation.



Lt. Ross said the drug test would come into effect if there were probable cause

to indicate that there is some impairment. He said if there is not reason to

believe that there is impairment, the testing couldn?t be done. He said if the

Company wants to do a random drug test on a driver that is involved in an

accident whether the driver is impaired or not, then the company can make that

a contractual agreement.



C) No Smoking:

In the third item Mr. Johnston requested that there be no smoking in taxicabs.



Chairman Archie said that he had never read the Georgia Free Air Act of 2005

and asked was there any information that pertains to cabs.



Lt. Ross said there is nothing in the Georgia Free Air Act that pertains to

cabs, but company owners could make it a policy.



D) Drug Screening:

The fourth item requested by Mr. Johnson was that all Columbus taxi drivers

submit to a drug screening to receive a taxi permit with each driver paying for

their own drug test.



Chairman Archie said the Commission has talked about this before and the City

Attorney advised that this would have to be a requirement enforced by the

company owner.



E) Police Department & Ft. Benning MWR:

The fifth item requested by Mr. Johnson was for the Columbus Police Department

to work hand and hand with Ft. Benning MWR Taxicab Commission to crack down on

taxicab drivers abusing drugs.



Chairman Archie stated the MWR does not have a Taxicab Commission and then

turned the discussion over to Lt. Ross.



Lt. Ross said Ft. Benning has a contract with their cab drivers and as part of

that contract the drivers agreed to be drug tested. He said once you enter

into this contract it becomes a medical bit of information that only the

contract person can use and said by law Ft. Benning cannot disclose any

information pertaining to the driver as it relates to drug test results. He

said unless a criminal charge is made, Ft. Benning cannot disclose that

information.



F) Seven Year Old Taxi:

In the sixth item listed Mr. Johnson requested that their be a ban on taxis

that are older than seven years. He explained that this would provide newer,

better, and cleaner taxis for citizens to travel in.



Chair Archie said this is something that we have discussed before and as of

right now there will be no changes made.







G) One Price On Cabs:

In the seventh item listed Mr. Johnson requested that all taxicabs have one

price.

Mr. Johnson explained that there is a lot of conflict deriving from the

difference in pricing in the taxicab industry. He said some customers feel

mistreated or taken advantage of because they may see a taxicab with a lower

rate than the one they chose to ride in.



Chairman Archie said he has not ran into any of those problems and said as long

as the price on the door is the same as the price on the meter it should not be

a problem.



H) Monthly Meetings:

In the eighth item listed Mr. Johnson requested that the Taxicab Commission go

back to having monthly meetings.



Chairman Archie said he does not think the Commission should go back to monthly

meetings because we have the means to call a meeting if it is an emergency.





Old Business



A) Raising Of The Rates:

Chairman Archie said there was a committee formed to do research on raising the

taxicab rates and at that time Chairman Archie opened the floor for the

committee to bring forth their recommendations.



Mr. Brooks distributed handouts to all Commissioners outlining recommendations

for raising the rates. Mr. Brooks read through the handouts and explained each

recommendation made.



Lt. Ross distributed a chart that he put together showing taxicab rates of

various cities in Georgia.



Mr. Cassell said he pulled rates for all U.S. cities and all are different. He

said he likes the chart that was put together by Lt. Ross and said Columbus

falls in the mid range of the charges.



Discussion went on about this matter for another thirty minutes with all of the

Commissioners expressing their views and ideas about raising the taxicab rates.



Chairman Archie said that he does not agree with going before the Council

asking for a rate increase when most cab drivers do not take advantage of using

the maximum rate. He said that he would like to impose upon the Commission to

look at eliminating, all together, going to City Council and asking for a

raise. He said he would like to be specific and look into three primary items:

surcharge, minimum fare and hot meter. He said he would like the Commission to

concentrate on those items because it would not be considered asking for a

raise.



Mr. Brooks suggested that the Commission visit this issue a couple more times

and asked the Commission how much time did they think it would take to do more

research and come up with a solution. Mr. Brooks said that he would like to do

a called meeting to discuss these issues again.



Lt. Ross disagreed with having any further discussion on this matter. He said

until the City of Columbus has come up to the maximum rate he does not see a

reason to change anything.



B) Resignation:

Chairman Archie announced his resignation from the Commission. He said after

this meeting he would be resigning and would accept nominations for a new

chairman.



Ms. Diane Quick made a motion for Mr. Cassell to fill the seat of the chairman,

seconded by Mr. James Brooks and approved unanimously by the members present

for this meeting.





Meeting adjourned @ 4:31 p.m.







________________________________

Tameka J. Colbert

Recording Secretary

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