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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 10033~~-~, ti ~•y •~ ORDINANCE No. ~~ AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTIONS 34-176, 34-180, 34-1$2 AND 34-194 OF THE CODE OF 7'HE CITY OF FORT WORTH (1986 ) AND REPEALING SECTION 34-195 THEREOF; DEFINING TERMS; REQUIR- ING CERTAIN LICENSES AND FEES OF PERSONS ENGAGED iN THE WRECKER BUSINESS; PROVIDING FOR ENGROSSMENT AND ENROLL- MENT; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION; AND PROVIDING AN EFFEC- TIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 34-176 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986) is amended to read as follows: "Sec. 34-176. Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section: ACCIDENT shall mean any occurrence which renders a vehicle wrecked or diabled as defined in this section. AIR CUSHIONS shall mean specialized recovery equipment utilizing low pressure, high volume air-filled bags to move, lift or roll heavy loads. CAR CARRIER shall mean a motor vehicle designed and equipped as to be capable of lifting another vehicle upon itself for the purpose of transporting a motor vehicle that cannot be safely transported by a wrecker. CONSENT TOW shall mean any tow conducted with the permis- sion of, or at the direction of, the vehicle's legal or registered owner, or such owner's authorized representa- tive. Except as set forth in the definition of 'noncon- sent tow' below, a tow will be considered a consent tow where the owner is able to give consent. DISABLED shall mean that status of any vehicle which has been rendered unsafe to be driven upon the streets as the result of some occurrence other than a wreck, including, J=*w 4 •! .~ .1 J 'i ~ ~ but not limited to, mechanical failures or breakdowns, fire, the elements or vandalism, so as to reasonably necessitate that such vehicle be removed by a wrecker. DOLLY shall mean a detached axle unit used to support a unit being towed by a wrecker. HAZARDOUS MATERIAL shall mean: 1. Any substance classified as a hazardous material under state law or federal law or under a rule adopted pursuant to state or federal law; or 2. A chemical, petroleum product, gas or other substance that, if discharged or released, will or is likely to create an immiment danger to individuals, property or the environment. MOTOR VEHICLE shall mean every vehicle which is self-pro- pelled. NONCONSENT TOW shall mean any tow conducted without the permission of, or not at the direction of, the vehicle's legal or registered owner, or such owner's authorized representative, regardless of the vehicle's location or condition. Towing the vehicle of a person who has been taken into custody by a law enforcement agency is con- sidered a nonconsent tow. OWNER' S REQUEST shall mean the designation of the occa- sion when the owner of a wrecked or disabled vehicle has selected a wrecker company to move his vehicle and has authorized t'ne police department to call that wrecker company when such selected wrecker company is not owned by or does not represent the place selected. PLACE AND WRECKER SELECTION FORM shall mean the form pro- vided for in Section 34-185. POLICE PULL shall mean the designation of the occasion when the police department has called a wrecker company from the rotation list to either remove a wrecked or dis- abled vehicle or to remove a vehicle in a safe driving condition, but the owner is not present, able or per- mitted to drive or to make authorizations. REPRESENTED AUTOMOBILE CLUB shall mean any person organized entirely or in part for the purpose of provid- ing contract emergency road service to owners of vehicles, which person has authorized a licensed wrecker -2- company or companies to represent him on all calls con- cerning wrecked or disabled vehicles and has been permit- ted by the city police department to be so represented as provided for in Section 34-181. REPRESENTED REPAIR BUSINESS shall mean any person in the business of repairing vehicles whether that be his sole business or a part of his other business, which person has authorized a licensed wrecker company to represent him on all calls concerning wrecked or disabled vehicles and has been permitted by the city police department to be so represented, as provided for in Section 34-181. ROTATION shall mean the designation of the occasion when the owner of a wrecked or disabled vehicle fails to designate a specific repair place or wrecker operator to remove his vehicle and he has authorized the police department to call a wrecker from the rotation list. STREET shall mean any street, alley, avenue, lane, public place, square or highway within the corporate limits of the city. VEHICLE shall mean every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a street, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. WRECKED shall mean the status of any vehicle that has been damaged as the result of overturning or colliding with another vehicle or object to as to reasonably neces- sitate that such vehicle be removed by a wrecker. WRECKER shall mean any motor vehicle designed and used primarily for transporting wrecked or disabled vehicles upon any street.. WRECKER BUSINESS shall mean the business of transporting wrecked or disabled vehicles on the streets regardless of whether the purpose of the transportation is to repair, wreck, store, trade or purchase such wrecked or disabled vehicles. WRECKER COMPANY shall mean any person engaged in the wrecker business. WRECKER ROTATION LIST shall :mean the list of wrecker com- panies as provided for in Section 34-187. -3- SECTION 2. Section 34-180 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986) is amended to read as follows: "Sec. 34-18U. License or permit- Required to engage in business; nontransferable; expiration date. (a) No person having a wrecker business located in the city shall engage in the wrecker business performing consent tows on the streets of the city unless a wrecker business license has been issued to the owner of such wrecker company; (b) No person shall engage in the wrecker business performing nonconsent tows on the streets of the city unless a wrecker business license has been issued to the owner of such wrecker company. This subsection applies without regard to the place of business of the owner of such wrecker company. (c) No license issued pursuant to this section shall be transferable and every such license shall expire at midnight on the thirty-first day of December of the cal- endar year in which issued. SECTION 3. Section 34-182 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986) is amended to read as follows: Sec. 34-182. Same - Fees. (a) The annual fees applicable to this Article are as follows: (1) Wrecker Business License $200.00 (2) Rotation List Service Charge 250.00 (3) Inspection Fee (per wrecker) 20.00 (4) Driver Permit Fee (per driver) 20.00 (5) Letters of Authorization Filing Fees 10.00 (annual renewal not required) (b) No fee payments shall be returnable. -4- ~.~. SECTION 4. f J Section 34-194 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986) is amended to read as follows: "Sec. 34-194. Inspection certificates. "No person subject to the license requirements of Section 34-180 shall operate a wrecker on the streets of the city unless an inspection certificate for such wrecker has been issued by the chief of police, which certificate shall be affixed securely to the inside of the windshield of such wrecker and displayed at all times." SECTION 5. Section 34-195 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986) is hereby repealed. SECTION 6. The City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth is hereby di- rected to engross and enroll this ordinance by copying the caption in the minutes of the City Council and by filing the ordinance in the ordinance records of the City. SECTION 7. The City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth is hereby directed to publish the caption and Sections 1 through 5 of this ordinance for two (2) days in the official newspaper of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, as authorized by Section 52.013, Texas Local Government Code. -5- .+! D SECTION 8. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage and publication as required by law, and it is so ordained. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: ~' ity A torney Date : / Z •~,z,,,,~,,.- Q ~j ADOPTED : ~~~~'~=G~~~~,~~ EFFECTIVE: -6- ~cco~1 ~~- _..~_.___'. ~4.._~.... _. rCity of .~®rt ~®~-th, ~e.xc~~ - .~._ -~ IrANJ."~~RTATI0l~I~PUBLIf:'~pf0~',g.A~ //®~ ~~~ ,f D® tLlV~lli (L // ~®~~ U/Ui 0 11i~8.~tL.~IL ~ILf' =tLk Au NJ NIS1ftATlciN/+\\VV"/1/L/,,'Y%./U/IILJ/ (+~/ (/~/~ ''''~"'3 ae. 'DA~E "10th ~' ' REFERENCE SUBJECT ESTABLISHMENT OR INCREASE OF PAGE ~~~$7 NUMBER VARIOUS USER FEES 2 rvuNrura cou ~ ~ 388 i of !ANgGL~.ib T. SER VIC ES.Q1 Recommendation ~~~ 1 ~,or1ARY..1 It i s recommended that the City Counc i 1 r. ., FINANCE-7. 1) Approve the administrative increase of certain Park and Recreation fees, and certain Library fees, and the establishment of a fee permitting the iLALTHDEARTMENSr+11 installation and inspection of security bars, a fee for the use of the City _Council Chambers by outside entities, and a fee to be assessed by City--departments providing notary services to the public as provided by ` State Law, and 2) Approve the attached ordinances increasing certain health fees, the fee f` for returned checks, wrecker inspection and wrecker driver permit fees; and, establishing by ordinance a license for wrecker companies, and a fee for processing certain tickets which result in dismissal pursuant to State Law. Discussion During deliberations on the 1987-88 operating budget the City Council agreed to the generation of an additional $1,300,000 in revenue to -the Genera) Fund as a result of the initiation of certain new user fees and/or the increase in certain existing fees Approval of this Mayor and Council Communication will ,' effect that decision. Some of these fees may be adjusted administratively. ~ They are as follows ~' 1) Increase the general admission fee to the Log Cabin Village from $ 35 to $ 50 and to increase the fee for craft demonstrations from $.35 to $1 50, ` ~ r<_~,, 2) .Increase the fine .for late return of library materials now at $.10y day to $.15 per day, ;~;; ~HIYYfr~l~ 3) Establish a fee of $25 to permit the installation of security bars and subsequent inspection of the installation, --LL- 4) Establish a fee of $125 for non-City-related entities to use the City Council Chambers; and 5) A11ow City departments providing notary services for the public~~to assess the charge established by State law for such service "~~ Other fees have been previously established by ordinance or are permitted by State law These require Council action in the form of an adopted ordinance. These are as fol 1 ows ,I) Amend Section 16-13 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1986) to add fees for diagnostic tests for certain diseases and to add fees for the treatment of certain conditions, .` DATE REFERENCE suB~ECr ESTABLISHMENT OR INCREASE OF PAGE ~. 12/22/87 ""~-~388 VARIOUS USER FEES 2 or 2 2) Amend Section 16-407 of the Code to increase the fee charged for vital statistics records from $5 00 to $7 50 consistent with State Law, 3) Amend Section 2-117 of the Code to increase the service charge for returned checks from the current $10 to $15 consistent with State Law, 4) Amend Sections 34-180 and 34-182 of the Code instituting a license fee of $50 for each wrecker company except non-resident companies performing consent tours only and assessing a rotation list service charge of '-f and increasing the inspection fee for each wrecker authorized to operate within the City for such permitted companies from $10 per unit to $20 per unit and increasing the permit fee for wrecker drivers from $3 apiece to $20 apiece, and 5) Add Section 10-7 to Chapter 10 of the Code permitting municipal judges to assess a processing fee to those persons who have certain tickets dismissed pursuant to State Law Financing Revenues derived from these fee increases will be recorded in various revenue accounts in the General Fund 01 CB wg Ordinance No. 10031 - amending section 2-117 to increase service charge t/ for return checks. Ordinance No. 10032 - authorizing Municipal Court to collect special expense ~/ where certain cases are dismissed Ordinance No. 10033 - amending section 34-176, 34-180, 34-182 and 34-194 repeaiin J section 34-195 requiring certain licenses and fees of persons engaged in the Wrecker Business aP~'R~t~~D ~v Ordinance No. 10034 - amending Paragraph 2 of section ~'~~'- ~~~~~ ~~ 16-13 Publ i c Neai th Service Fees. ~,~ ~~~n~~l ~,y~ ~.61~~ ~ ORDINANCE N0. 10035 - amending section 16-407 to increase ~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ vital statistics fees. ~'~ ~~,~ Ciiy $er.;etcrF o£ :fie City, n£ For. VVo:'.h, Texas SUBMITTED FOR THE OFFICEABY GER'S ~ DISPOSITION BY COUNCIL; PROCESSED BY ~~n Glla ~~ 4~ APPROVED ORIGINATING O OTHER ESC RIB DEPARTMENT HEAD• Charles Boswel 1 850 ~j2~~~~ ~ SE ETA ~ ,j U. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Charles Boswell 85 Q + ^ CONTACT Jry '~~}LE t1111~~8ftV8 ~c -- DATE