Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 06-24-03 regular Council agenda — reading text

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT 9 WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON THE DAY OF , 2003 10 11 12 13 14 GLENDA GOVER 15 MAYOR 16 17 18 ATIEST: 19 20 21 22 23 HELEN A. SPENCER 24 CITY CLERK 25 The form and legal sufficiency of 26 the foregoing has been reviewed 27 and approved by the City 28 Attorney. 29 30 31 J. JEROMEMTT.T. ER 32 CITY ATTORNEY 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Page 2 CITY COUNCIL MEETING June 24, 2003 First Reading of Ordinance 1557 Amending Chapter 38, Wrecker, of the City Code Agenda Item No.- PH 3  FORTWALTONBEACHPOUCEDEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM DATE: 06/ 16/ 03 TO: Reid Silverboard, City Manager ~ 5 FROM: Steve Hogue, Chief of Police SUBJECT: WRECKER ORDINANCE 1557 BACKGROUND: The Police Department has numerous occasions to request a wrecker company to respond to police The calls are to the scene of traffic crashes. Many times scenes for removal of vehicles. most prevalent to tow their the involved individuals have no preference regarding which wrecker company responds them. Due the Police Departtnent's vehicle and request the officer to provide a wrecker for to that responds, charges involvement, it is incumbent upon the City to make certain the wrecker company an established fair fee. To insure fairness and established costs, the Police Department maintains a rotation wrecker program with a list of wrecker companies with businesses within the City limits of Fort Each wrecker Walton Beach that have requested and qualified to be a participant in the program. standards delineated in the current ordinance. These wrecker company must meet the mandated at the request companies are required to be available twenty four hours per day and immediately respond from crash abandoned vehicles, etc. The current of the Police Department to tow vehicles scenes, At that time, fee schedule was rotation wrecker ordinance was enacted in 1990, thirteen years ago. a the charges that could be assessed for various services the wrecker companies adopted establishing not been adjusted since the ordinance was originally adopted in 1990, nor performed. These fees have has the wrecker ordinance been updated during that time frame. DISCUSSION: needs of the Staff proposes the current ordinance and fee schedule be updated to reflect the changing Police Department and the associated fees be increased for the wrecker companies to compensate for the increased costs of a business. maintaining The revised ordinance reflects the following major changes: lot for storage 1. Abandon vehicles will no longer be removed by a pull- in wrecker to the City impound lot. Most and processing but will, now, be removed by a rotation wrecker to their company's storage abandoned vehicles are never claimed by their owners. Currently, the Police Department has the State Statute mandates procedure) responsibility to convert ownership of abandoned vehicles to the City ( in order to authorize a wrecker company to remove them from the City's impound lot. Abandoned in the City's vehicles are generally in a condition of disrepair, and further deteriorate while they are stored For this reason, it has becomeincreasingly difficult to find a towing company that will impound yard. under remove them for their value as salvage. The processing is cumbersome for City government and, rotation the revised ordinance, will transfer this responsibility to companies that participate in the Service abandoned vehicles in program. The Police Department responded to 159 Calls for involving the Police 2002 Oast complete statistical year). These calls resulted in 10 vehicles being impounded by on the rotation list. It is Department as abandoned vehicles. There are 11 wrecker currently companies that the number of actual tows of abandoned vehicles per company during a year should readily apparent not be a significant burden to the wrecker companies. 2 The revised ordinance limits its scope and control to only the rotation wrecker program. The current the City of ordinance has been interpreted, in the past,to require any wrecker that engages in business in to doing business in our jurisdiction. Under the current Fort Walton Beach to ob~ a permit prior ordinance, a Pensacola wrecker company is required to have a permit to pickup a vehicle in Fort Walton Beach to be transported back to Pensacola. The Police Department does not wish to regulate private involved in wrecker business between individuals and wrecker companies unless the Department is requesting they respond to provide service. As a condition of the revised ordinance, participating rotation wrecker companies are required to 3. dean debris and vehicle parts dislodged during a traffic crash so the roadway is void of all hazardous conditions. The Police Department has hosted two meetin~ with the current rotation wrecker owners and drivers to solicit their input for the ordinance and fee schedule. The resulting ordinance incorporates many of the owners/ drivers suggestions and recommendrtions. Ms T.l< revised ordinance and proposed fee schedule has been provided to the rotation wrecker companies for their review. Staff has included the Fee Schedule Resolution in the backup material for infonnation purposes only. for This Resolution will be scheduled for City Council approval when the Ordinance 1557 is scheduled Second Reading. RECOMMENDATION: first Srnff recommends that the City Council of Fort Walton Beach adopt the ordinance as proposed on reading. IG-~ Date SH/ fbt Attachments: Agenda Item Wrecker Ordinance 1557 Resolution/ FeeSche~ es(~ Class ^ B. & C Wrecker Inspection Form Rollback Wrecker Inspection Form Wrecker Rotation Application Form wrecker ord agenda memo.doc  1 2 3 4 ORDINANCE NO. 1557 5 6 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON 7 BEACH FLORIDA RELATING TO THE REGULATION OF 8 WRECKER OPERATIONS BY AMENDING CHAPTER 38, 9 WRECKERS, OF THE CITY CODE; PROVIDING FOR 10 AMENDMENT TO DEFINITIONS; PROVIDING FOR 11 AMENDMENT TO PENALTIES, PROVIDING FOR 12 AMENDMENT TO AUTHORITY OF CITY IN PULL 13 WRECKER AND ROTATION WRECKERS; EXPENSES; 14 PROVIDING FOR AMENDMENT TO OCCUPATIONAL 15 LICENSE AND PERMIT REQUIREMENTS; PROVIDING 16 FOR AMENDMENT TO OPERATION OF WRECKERS; 17 WRECKER SELECTION; PROVIDING FOR AMENDMENT 18 TO TAKING POSSESSION OF VEHICLE AND 19 COMPLIANCE WITH CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS; 20 PROVIDING AMENDMENT TO STORAGE FEES; FOR 21 REPEALING PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE 22 WRECKER ROTATION PROGRAM; PROVIDING FOR 23 SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTING 24 PROVISIONS AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE 25 DATE. 26 27 28 BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON 29 BEACH, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS: 30 31 SECTION 1. AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 38, SECTION 38. 1 DEFINITIONS. 32 Chapter 38, Section 38. 1 Definitions, is hereby amended to read as follows: 33 34 Section 38. 1 Definitions. 35 36 The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings 37 ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning: 38