§ 28-15. Public vehicle certificate requirement.

(a)

It shall be unlawful to operate any public vehicle which picks up a new fare within the City limits without a valid certificate affixed to the public vehicle.

(b)

There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a public vehicle which does not have a valid certificate affixed to the vehicle is violating this provision.

(c)

Each public vehicle shall have permanently affixed to the public vehicle a valid public vehicle certificate prior to each public vehicle beginning a new fare within the City limits. The public vehicle certificate shall be located on the driver's side of the vehicle on the lateral face of the bumper, trunk lid, or rear window and shall be visible from the exterior of the vehicle.

(d)

Each certificate shall expire on September 30 and may be renewed upon payment of the prescribed fee prior to expiration.

(e)

All public vehicle certificates fees for renewals shall be paid on or before September 30 of each fiscal year. If September 30 falls on a weekend or holiday, the renewal fee is due and payable on or before the first business day following September 30.

(f)

For each new public vehicle certificate issued between October 1 and March 31, the full amount of the certificate shall be paid. For each new public vehicle certificate issued on or after April 1, one-half of the total amount of the public vehicle certificate shall be paid. This section does not apply to temporary 14-day certificates as set forth in this chapter.

(g)

Upon the cancellation or lapse of any policy of insurance as required by this article, the certificate issued pursuant to this article shall be immediately revoked unless, before the expiration date of the policy of insurance, another policy of insurance containing all the requirements of the original policy of insurance is obtained. However, any holder of a certificate may make application to the POD for a voluntary suspension of the certificate for a term not to exceed six months and not to extend beyond the certificate term. The POD, in granting a voluntary suspension of a certificate, shall require the holder of the certificate to surrender possession of the certificate to the POD, but the surrender of possession of the certificate shall not be construed to be a cancellation thereof unless the holder of the certificate shall fail to file with the POD a policy of insurance before the expiration date of the suspension period. During the time of the voluntary suspension of the certificate, the operator shall not be required to maintain the policy of insurance as required by this article. A public vehicle certificate may be transferred during the voluntary suspension period.

(h)

The holder of any public vehicle certificate may assign the certificate to any person or any vehicle otherwise qualified under this article, however, a transfer fee of $25.00 must be paid to the City and the appropriate transfer application must be filed with the City before each certificate may be transferred. The person or vehicle that the certificate is to be transferred to must meet all the requirements for the issuance of a public vehicle certificate. The holder shall not transfer the certificate to any other vehicle without filing a transfer application and making payment of the transfer fee of $25.00 per certificate transferred. Each vehicle receiving a transferred certificate must meet all the requirements for the issuance of public vehicle certification.

(i)

The applicant for a certificate required by this section shall make a notarized application therefor to the POD upon application blanks to be furnished by the POD, which application shall contain, but not be limited to, the following information:

(1)

The owner of the vehicle and, if not owned by the applicant, from whom the vehicle is leased or rented;

(2)

The make and model of the vehicle and the year of its manufacture, together with the serial number of the vehicle and the seating capacity thereof;

(3)

The State license plate number of the motor vehicle;

(4)

If the owner of the vehicle is a corporation, the officers thereof;

(5)

If the owner of the vehicle is a partnership, the name and residence of each partner;

(6)

The principal business location of the owner of the vehicle;

(7)

A detailed rate and fare schedule to be charged for the vehicle, if applicable;

(8)

Whether the vehicle is to be operated as a taxicab, van, limousine/car service, low speed vehicle, vessel or non-motorized vehicle; and

(9)

If the vehicle is a taxicab, taxicab parent company information including: name, address, and telephone number.

(j)

In addition to the above required application information, the applicant shall:

(1)

State, declare and agree that the applicant will comply with all of the requirements of this chapter and that for a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, the POD shall be at liberty to cancel and withdraw the certificate and terminate the right of the person to use the streets of the City to operate a public vehicle, upon notice and a reasonable opportunity to be heard regarding such proposed action;

(2)

Agree to maintain and keep in workable condition one vehicle for each certificate;

(3)

Low speed vehicles shall provide to the POD a copy of the certificate of title and registration from the State and any other document deemed necessary by the POD to show that the vehicle is a low speed vehicle including, but not limited to, a State approved inspection sheet;

(4)

State, declare and agree that the applicant and all employees will service all areas of the City. Non-motorized vehicles, vessels, and low speed vehicles are not required to comply with this provision; and

(k)

Before a certificate required by this article shall be issued by the POD, the applicant for a certificate of the public vehicle shall conform to the following requirements:

(1)

Pay to the City the administrative certificate fee for each public vehicle certificate as set forth in chapter 12.

(2)

File with the POD satisfactory evidence of holding a motor vehicle liability insurance policy insuring against loss from liability for bodily injury, death, and property damage, with coverage limits not less than the minimum amounts specified by F.S. § 324.032 or such greater minimum amounts as may be required by other provisions of F.S. ch. 324, applicable to the applicant. Notwithstanding the foregoing, non-motorized vehicles, except for pedal buses, shall be required to obtain general liability insurance in the amount of $300,000.00 per occurrence, pedal buses shall provide the insurance limits as set forth in this chapter (currently 28-14(f)), and the City shall be named as an additional insured on the insurance certificate. The policy of insurance shall provide that notice for the cancellation thereof shall be given not less than ten days in advance of the effective date of such cancellation to the POD. The insurance policy shall provide that the City shall receive all notices of any kind (termination, cancellation, renewal, nonrenewal, rate increase, etc.) which shall be sent to the POD.

a.

If the holder of public vehicle certificates has more than one insurance policy for the holder's public vehicles, the policies shall have the same expiration date. Any exceptions must be approved in writing by the POD.

b.

The holder of a public vehicle certificate shall provide a schedule issued by the insurance carrier of all vehicles covered by the certificate of insurance. A change of the certificate of insurance shall be provided to the POD from the authorized insurance representative when public vehicles are added or deleted from the policy. The City shall be named as a certificate holder on the insurance certificate of all insurance policies maintained to satisfy the requirements of this section.

(l)

Non-motorized vehicles and low speed vehicles are required to comply with this section unless otherwise specifically exempted from a particular provision. All exempt vehicles are not required to comply with this section.

(m)

A person who makes application for a public vehicle certificate shall be issued such a certificate upon a showing to the City, in the manner prescribed in this chapter of the Code that the person has met all the requirements for issuance of such a certificate.

(n)

The public vehicle certificate is delinquent if not renewed by September 30 of each year. Any public vehicle certificate not renewed is deemed expired. Delinquent fees are subject to a delinquency penalty of ten percent for the month of October plus an additional five percent penalty for each month or portion thereof of delinquency thereafter until paid. The total delinquency penalty shall not exceed 25 percent of the fee due. The payment of this delinquency penalty is not in lieu of other penalties provided by this article. It is no defense of nonpayment of any public vehicle certificate that the business or person was not notified that payment was due to the City. Any holder of a public vehicle certificate for a previous year who does not renew by September 30 of the current year is subject to the delinquency penalty as set forth in this paragraph regardless of the subtraction or addition of new vehicles to their fleet. If a delinquent certificate holder adds or subtracts new vehicles to their fleet, a delinquency penalty shall be assessed on the total vehicles within their fleet at the time of reinstatement.

(o)

The holder of any public vehicle certificate may purchase a temporary 14-day certificate for a replacement vehicle should an event occur rendering a vehicle assigned a public vehicle certificate to be disabled. A temporary 14-day certificate fee of $15.00 shall be paid to the POD. The temporary public vehicle certificate application must be filed with the City before a certificate may be issued. The person and/or vehicle that the certificate is to be issued to must meet all the requirements for the issuance of a public vehicle certificate. Proof of the disabled vehicle is required to be provided to the POD. Failure to obtain a public vehicle certificate for the replacement vehicle after the expiration of the 14 days, or failure to obtain an additional temporary certificate, or failure to reinstate the original vehicle assigned a public vehicle certificate shall be a violation of this article. No more than two consecutive, temporary 14-day certificates may be issued for any single public vehicle.

(p)

Any holder of a revoked public vehicle certificate must file a new application and pay all applicable fees for reinstatement of the public vehicle certificate.

(Code 1992, § 28-4; Ord. No. 107-G, § 4, 11-4-1993; Ord. No. 152-G, § 1, 5-5-1994; Ord. No. 531-G, §§ 3—5, 4-18-2002; Ord. No. 648-G, § 1, 2-5-2004; Ord. No. 911-G, §§ 5, 6, 1-8-2009; Ord. No. 969-G, § 2, 2-4-2010; Ord. No. 1027-G, §§ 7—12, 8-18-2011; Ord. No. 1-H, § 6, 10-20-2011; Ord. No. 39-H, § 7, 8-16-2012; Ord. No. 213-H, § 1, 1-21-2016; Ord. No. 295-H, § 4, 10-5-2017)