Public Services Committee Meeting

MINUTES Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Public Services Committee * 4:56 PM Carnegie Town Hall 235 West 10th Street Members Present: Council Member Sue Aguilar, Council Member Kenny Anderson Jr., Council Member Michelle Erpenbach, Council Member Dean Karsky Members Absent: None Staff Present: Tamara Jorgensen, CMC, Assistant City Clerk; David Bixler, Budget Analyst; and Jim David, Legislative/Operations Manager 1. Call To Order Committee Chair Kenny Anderson Jr. called the meeting to order at 4:56 p.m. 2. Review and approval of minutes dated February 11, 2014 A motion was made by Michelle Erpenbach and seconded by Dean Karsky to approve the minutes. Anderson Jr. called for a voice vote and all members present voted yes. Motion Passed. 3. Vehicle for Hire Ordinance Review by Jim David, Legislative/Operations Manager Jim David, Legislative/Operations Manager, reviewed a PowerPoint Presentation illustrating the proposed changes to the Vehicle For Hire ordinance. Items discussed were: posting rates; deceit as to direct route; vehicle signs and markings; driver prohibitions; equipment of taximeter; business license issuance; and the requirement for a driver's license. Discussion followed. Keith Allenstein, Assistant City Attorney/Police and Fire Legal Advisor, spoke regarding enforcement of the proposed ordinance changes. He stated on the road issues would be handled by law enforcement and regulatory issues would be handled by the Licensing Specialist. Allenstein stated that Code Enforcement Officers could be utilized, as needed. Discussion followed. Karsky reviewed considerations to be discussed for the proposed ordinance changes. The committee discussed posting the rates inside the vehicle. David provided an update on how the ordinance reads regarding posting rates. Discussion followed.  Discussion was held regarding the effective date of this ordinance. There may be a four month delay needed due to the RFP process regarding getting an outside vendor for sealing the taximeters. David reviewed charts that indicated statistical information from other cities regarding sealing taximeters and taximeter inspections. Erpenbach asked if four month was going to be long enough time for the administration and for local taxi businesses to prepare for the ordinance changes. Discussion followed. Anderson Jr. opened the meeting to public input. After the public input, Anderson Jr. encouraged the taxi businesses to email questions or concerns to Council members and also to Jim David, Legislative/Operations Manager. His email address is jdavid@siouxfalls.org. Council Member Sue Aguilar asked the committee about the timeline for bringing this item before the City Council for review. She reminded the committee that some of the existing Council Members are not going to be on the Council after May 13, 2014. Discussion was held regarding potential dates for another Public Services Committee Meeting in March, 2014. A motion was made by Council Member Michelle Erpenbach and seconded by Council Member Sue Aguilar to set the first reading on this item for Tuesday, April 1, 2014 with a second reading for Tuesday, April 15, 2014. Anderson called for a voice vote and all members voted yes. Motion Passed. 4. Open Discussion There was none. 5. Adjournment A motion was made by Council Member Michelle Erpenbach and seconded by Council Member Sue Aguilar to adjourn the meeting at 6:04 p.m. Anderson Jr. called for a voice vote and all members voted yes. Motion Passed. Tamara Jorgensen, CMC Assistant City Clerk