Fort Walton Beach Resolution — 06-11-Rotation Wrecker Program — reading text

RESOLUTION: 06-11 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ESTABLISHING ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES FOR THE ROTATION WRECKER PROGRAM OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT RESOLVED BY TIlE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH: Section I. That the City Council hereby establishes, pursuant to the terms of Ordinance 1671, the administrative procedures for the Rotation Wrecker Program as follows. Section n. The City Police Chief, under direction of the City Manager, shall administer the City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Rotation Wrecker Program pursuant to the following guidelines. A. Permit Required; Other Conditions 1. All participants of the rotation wrecker program must have a valid wrecker permit,and City occupational license. 2. The police department shall have authority to review wrecker permit applications and issue the wrecker permit for the operation of rotation wreckers within the city. A rotation wrecker permit will not be issued unless the company, wrecker and Florida law operator proposed to be used, complies with the minimum requirements of and the City' s Code of Ordinances. 3. Each wrecker company or operator licensed to operate in the city shall have prepared billheads with the name and address of the wrecker company printed thereon. The operator of a wrecker, before removing a disabled vehicle from the scene, shall prepare a bill on such billhead form showing the total amount charged for towing service, the original of which shall be given to the owner of the disabled vehicle or his authorized representative, and the other copy retained by the owner of the wrecker. 4. In addition to any requirement of Florida law and the Code, any wrecker shall: company participating in the city wrecker rotation program a. Have a current city occupational permit; b. Have applied to participate in such program; c. Maintain a 24-hour wrecker service; d. Maintain a primary business office manned during all business hours and a storage facility within the city limits; e. Maintain an on call wrecker within the city limits; f. Have each wrecker vehicle inspected for compliance with the city wrecker vehicle inspection form and permitted by the police department;  g. Each wrecker company shall provide proof of vehicle and liability insurance. B. Use of Rotation Wrecker When a police officer investigating an accident determines that a vehicle which has been involved in a collision or accident upon a public street is unable to proceed unable to safely under its own power, or when the owner or operator thereof is physically drive such vehicle, such officer shall request the owner or operator to designate the wrecker company that he or she desires to remove the vehicle. 1. When the owner or operator has designated the wrecker company desired, the police officer shall communicate that fact immediately to police communications, and it shall be the duty of the communications officer receiving such information to call the designated company to send a wrecker to the scene of the accident or collision. 2. If the owner or operator of a vehicle involved in an accident or collision is physically unable to designate a desired wrecker company or declines to designate one, the investigating officer shall communicate that fact immediately to police communications and proceed as follows. a. The police department shall keep a master rotation list, in alphabetical order, of all wrecker companies participating in the wrecker rotation program. b. On receiving the first communication, the communications officer receiving such transmission at police headquarters shall call the first wrecker company on the rotation list to tow the disabled vehicle. c. If a wrecker belonging to the wrecker company receiving the communication fails to arrive at the scene of an accident within 35 minutes, the investigating officer shall notify police communications. d. The first wrecker company called shall be cancelled and the next wrecker company on the rotation list shall be called. e. The wrecker company whose call was cancelled shall be placed in on the rotation list and a notation of failure to respond shall be recorded as a last position remark. f. In each succeeding communication of the inability or refusal of the owner or operator to designate a wrecker, the next company on the list shall be called, and proper notation of each such call shall be made on the master list. g. Six ( 6) failures to respond to the dispatched location within 35 minutes within a 12- month rolling period will constitute a violation of this chapter and may be grounds for disciplinary action as provided for in the Code. C. Prohibitions 1. No wrecker operator shall follow any ambulance, police car or wrecker which is traveling on a public street in response to a report of an automobile collision or accident for the purpose of soliciting business. Res. 06- 11 2  2. No person shall drive a wrecker to or near the scene of an accident or collision on the streets of the city for the purposes of soliciting business unless such however, when it person has been called to the scene by the police department; provided, is necessary to prevent death or bodily injury to any person involved in an accident or collision, the prohibition of this subsection shall be inapplicable. 3. No police officer investigating or present at the scene of any wreck, accident or collision on a public street shall directly or indirectly, either by word, gesture, sign or otherwise, recommend to any person the name of any particular person engaged in the wrecker service or repair business, nor shall any such officer influence or attempt to influence in anymanner the decision of any person in choosing or selecting a wrecker or repair service. However, any police officer, in the exercise of his discretion as a police officer, may direct that a vehicle, whether towed by a wrecker selected by the owner or operator of the vehicle or from the wrecker rotation list, be taken directly to the police department and there held by the city for any lawful purpose. D. Exceptions Exceptions to the general requirement for rotation of the wrecker services called pursuant to this chapter may be made where: 1. The person responsible for an automobile specifies a wrecker service not participating in the rotation program. 2. The designated company is located so distant as to create impractical delay in removing the vehicle. 3. The officer in charge determines that human life may be endangered unless the rotation list is disregarded, in that limited instance, in favor of the quickest and/or heaviest equipment available. In this limited instance, the company need not be licensed by the city or permitted by the police department. Section III. This resolution shall take effect upon adoption by the Council. d. /~ ~ mh uk 4 , h+ e Mike Anderson, Mayor ATTEST: Approved for form and legal sufficiency: By: By: Toni L.Craig, City Atto DISPOSITION r Res. 06- 11