97-031 ORD GRANTING LYNDLE RAY RANDOLPH DBA CHECKER CAB A FRANCHISE TO USE PUBLIC STREETS ALLEYS AND HIGHWAYS OF COP
ORDINANCE NO. 97_031
AN ORDINANCE GRANTING TO LYNDLE RAY RANDOLPH, D/B/A CHECKER CAB,
PARIS, TEXAS, A FRANCHISE TO USE THE PUBLIC STREETS, ALLEYS, AND
HIGHWAYS OF THE CITY OF PARIS FOR THE PURPOSE OF TRANSPORTING
PASSENGERS FOR HIRE IN MOTOR VEHICLES FOR A PERIOD ON' t'IVE (5) YEARS,
BEGINNING AUGUST 8, 1997, AND ENDING AUGU5T 7, 2002, UPON THE TERMS
AND CONDITIONS HEREINAFTER PRESCRIBED; PROVIDING FOR THE
REGULATION OF SAID BUSINESS; PROVIDING FOR THE PAYMENT OF A TAX FOR
SUCH PRIVILEGE AND USE OF SUCH STREETS, ALLEYS, AND HIGHWAYS;
PROVIDING FOR THE TERMINATION OF SUCH GRANT UPON SPECIFIED
CONDITIONS; PROVIDING NOR TAXICAB STANDS FOR USE OF SAID GRANTEE;
PROVIDING FOR PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE ON THE MOTOR VEHICLES AND
EQUIPMENT OF SAID GRANTEE; PROVIDING FOR THE SUPERVISION OF SAID
BUSINESS AND INSPECTION OF ITS VEHICULAR EQUIPMENT BY THE OFFICIALS
OF THE CITY OF PARIS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS:
Section 1. There is hereby granted to LYNDLE RAY RANDOLPH d/b/a CHECKER
CAB, PARIS, TEXAS, hereinafter called grantee, the right, privilege, and franchise for a period
of five (5) years, beginning August 8, 1997, and ending August 7, 2002, to operate a taxicab
service in the City of Paris and on the streets, alleys, and public ways within the City Limits of
said City for the transportation of passengers for hire. The grantee herein shall maintain the
principal office and place of business of said business within the corporate limits of the City of
Paris, where the headquarters of said business shall be maintained.
Section 2. The right, privilege, and grant herein contained shall not be transferred or
assigned without the formal action and consent of the City Council of the City of Paris, first had
and obtained, and any attempted assignment or transfer of said rights and privileges by the grantee
herein without first having had and obtained such consent and permission from the City Council
of the City of Paris shall operate, ipso facto, as a termination of the rights, privileges, and grant
herein contained.
Section 3. That the taxicabs operated or maintained under said franchise shall be used for
the purpose of transportation of passengers and the personal luggage of such passengers.
Section 4. That all automobiles or vehicles used in connection with this taxicab service
shall be operated in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas and ordinances of the City of
Paris, and such future amendments thereto, or either of them, relating to or regulating the
operation of motor vehicles upon streets or highways.
Section 5. The City of Paris, in granting this franchise, fully retains and reserves all the
rights, privileges, and immunities that it now has under the law to fully patrol and police tlle
streets, alleys, and public ways within the City, and the granting of this franchise shall, in no way,
interfere with the rights of the City of Paris to fully use said streets, alleys, and public ways for
any other public utility, nor shall this francllise in any way interfere with the improvement or
maintenance of any other streets, alleys, and public ways, and the rights of the grantee herein to
use said streets shall, at all times, be subservient to the right of the City Council of the City of
Paris to fully exercise its rights or control over said streets, alleys, and public ways.
Section 6. The grantee sha11, during the life of this franchise, pay to the City of Paris, at
the office of the City Clerk, 150 Ist Street S.E., Paris, Texas, in lawful money of the United
States, a sum equal to $50.00 per vehicle used in the operation of said taxicab business, which
remittance shall be made annually on or before the lOth day of December each year. The
payments stipulated and provided in this section shall be in lieu of any other tax assessment or
charge by the City of Paris which may now or may hereafter be in force during the term of this
franchise, excluding only ad valorem taxes.
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Section 7. The City of Paris expressly reserves the right to modify, amend, alter, change,
or eliminate any of the provisions of this francllise, during the life of the same, for the following
purposes, to wit:
(1) To eliminate or delete from the same such conditions as then prove
obsolete or impractical; and
(2) To impose such additional conditions upon the grantee as may be
deemed necessary and reasonable, such conditions to be those as may be deemed
necessary for the purpose of insuring adequate service to the public.
Section. 8. Notwithstanding what may be said in any other portion of this instrument with
reference to the termination hereof, this right is granted subject to the provisions of Article I,
Sections 17 and 26 of the Constitution of the State of Texas, all applicable state laws, charter
provisions, and such future laws as may be enacted by the Legislature, or amendments to the
Constitution and the Charter of the City of Paris. Furthermore, the City Council of the City of
Paris reserves the absolute right, upon notice and hearing, which said notice shall be given to the
grantee not less than thirty (30) days before such hearing, to absolutely terminate this grant for
any violation of the terms and provisions of this ordinance.
Section 9. That it shall ilereafter be unlawful for the grantee, his officers, agents, or
employees operating any automobile for hire within the City of Paris to cruise. Cruising shall
consist of seeking, searching, or soliciting employment while operating an automobile for hire by
repeatedly and persistently driving such automobile for hire to and fro on the public streets of the
City of Paris and offering accommodations thereof to prospective passengers, whether by signal,
word of mouth or by carrying a sign with the word "Vacant" thereon, or some other word of
similar import, or otherwise or in any manner whatsoever operating said vehicle upon the public
streets of the City of Paris for the purpose of soliciting passengers or driving an automobile for
hire upon the public streets while unoccupied by a passenger without having a fixed destination
thereof.
Section 10. That the grantee shall, at all times during the effective period of this
franchise, keep and maintain, in full force and effect, a policy or policies of public liability
insurance covering each motor vehicle to be operated under this franchise, providing at least
$20,000.00 per person and $40,000.00 for any single occurrence for bodily injury or death and
$15,000.00 for any single occurrence for injury to or destruction of property, indemnifying all
persons for any and all damages, personal injuries, or property damages sustained as a result of
the negligent operation of any motor vehicle by the grantee, its officers, agents, or employees,
and shall pay all premiums due thereon when due. It is expressly provided that such insurance
policy or policies shall and must be written and issued by a reputable insurance underwriter or
underwriters authorized to do business in the state of Texas, with the City of Paris as an additional
insured, subject to approval by the City Attorney of the City of Paris, and the grantee or its
insurance carrier or carriers sha11 deliver a copy of any such policies to the City Clerk of the City
of Paris, 150 lst Street S.E., Paris, Texas 75460, or furnish to said City Clerk a current letter or
certificate from such company or companies, evidencing the fact that such insurance is in full
force and effect at all times during the effective period of this franchise, and specifically noting
thereon that the City of Paris is an additional insured. All such policies shall be written so that
the City of Paris will be notified of cancellation or of any restrictive amendment of the policies
at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of such cancellation or amendment. Notice shall
be by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the City of Paris at the following
address: City Clerk, City of Paris, P. O. Box 9037, Paris, Texas 75461-9037.
The grantee shall well and truly pay directly to every judgment creditor who has been
injured through the negligent operation of any motor vehicle by the grantee, his agents or
employees, or whose property has been damaged, any amount or amounts of money that shall
have been awarded by final judgment of any court of competent jurisdiction against such grantee
on account of any such injury or damage.
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Section 11. In the event of the failure of grantee to fully discharge any claim for damages
established by final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction within sixty (60) days after the
same has been so established, this franchise shall automatically be forfeited.
Section 12. Every taxicab operated by grantee under this franchise shall, at all times, have
painted, or otherwise impressed upon the front doors thereof, easily visible signs bearing proper
identification of the company operating under this franchise. All such vehicles shall be owned by
and registered in the name of grantee, and no other vehicle may be used under this franchise.
Each of such vehicles shall be registered with the City Clerk of the City of Paris by motor vehicle
in numerical order, beginning with the Number l, which number shall, at all times, be displayed
at some conveilient location on both sides of said vehicles.
Section 13. It shall be the duty of the City Council of the City of Paris to enforce the
provisions of this ordinance and all applicable regulations, which, when approved by the City
Council, shall become binding upon the grantee herein. Among other things, the City Council
shall, from time to time during the term of this franchise, have the power and authority to
promulgate effective regulations concerning the following, to-wit:
(1) To make reasonable orders respecting character, extent, quality, and
standard of service of grantee to be provided under this franchise;
(2) To fix such rates for service to the public as are not in conflict with the
express provisions hereof as will provide for grantee a reasonable and fair rate of
return upon the fair value of the properry used and useable in connection with the
rendering of service to the public under this franchise; and
(3) To make such other rules and regulations as may be reasonably
necessary to facilitate adequate service to be rendered to the public under this
franchise, any such rules and regulations, when adopted, to be binding upon the
grantee herein.
Section 14. Motor vehicles operated by grantee under this franchise shall be known as
"public service vehicles" and, when not in use in the exercise of the privileges granted herein,
sha11 be stationed or parked at the headquarters of the grantee, which headquarters shall be located
on private property.
Section 15. The word "taxicab," as used in this ordinance, shall mean any passenger
vehicle with not more than two seats and a normal capacity not in excess of six persons which is
not operated over a fixed route or routes and which is engaged for the purpose of carrying a
passenger, or passengers, by special trips to and from specified addresses as designated by any
such passenger or passengers.
Section 16. That the grantee shall promptly pay all lawful ad valorem taxes and such other
levies and assessments, if any, that may be lawfully imposed upon him. Failure to pay any of
such charges, or either of them, shall be deemed a breach of the privilege granted herein, and the
City, upon the happening of such event, may declare the rights of the grantee hereunder forfeited
for such breach.
Section 17. This grant is made upon the express condition that the non-exercise of the
power to regulate rates and charges which the grantee may charge to the public in the operation
of its business shall never be construed as an acquiescence or recognition of the justness or
correctness of said grantee's established rate, and that, so long as the City Council of the City of
Paris dces not exercise its legislative and governmental power to fix and regulate the rates that the
grantee shall charge to the public, the question of property values used and useful in the rendering
of the service prior to rate regulation shall never stop the City from determining the real or actual
value of property used or useful in rendering such service. If, and when, the City Council or
other governing body shall exercise the power to fix the rates to be charged for such service in
the City of Paris, no allowance in the way of said rate shall be made as compensation for any
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property used or consumed in rendering the service by the grantee for such service. If, and when,
the City Council decides to regulate rates, then, at such time, the Council will fully exercise its
rate regulatory power under the provisions of law applicable thereto, and the failure to provide
under this ordinance the machinery for the administrative, legislative, or executive control of such
matter shall not preclude the Council from fully exercising that power and providing suitable
provisions to enforce such power.
Section 18. Should it be determined that any clause, condition, or covenant of this
franchise is, for any reason, illegal or unenforceable, such clause, condition, or covenant shall be
disregarded, and the existence of the same shall not affect the remaining clauses, conditions, or
covenants of this franchise.
Section 19. That any unwarranted and intentional neglect, failure, or refusal of the grantee
to comply with any of the conditions and stipulation contained in this franchise shall thereupon
and immediately, ipso facto, effect a forfeiture hereof, and the City Council may, thereupon,
declare this franchise forfeited and may exclude the grantee from further use of the streets of the
City under this franchise, and the grantee shall thereupon and immediately surrender all rights in
and to the same, and this franchise shall become null and void and of no effect.
Section 20. Within ten (10) days after the passage of this ordinance by the City Council,
the grantee herein shall file with the City Clerk, in writing, the acceptance of the terms and
provisions of this grant.
Section 21. Introduced, read, and passed on first reading on April 14, 1997, at a regular
meeting of the City Council of the City of Paris; on second reading on May 12, 1997, at a regular
meeting of the City Council of the City of Paris; and on third and final reading on June 9, 1997,
at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Paris, the same being three (3) separate
regular meetings of the City Council of the City of Paris, and the last reading being not less than
thirty (30) days from the first.
This ordinance shall become effective sixty (60) days from the date of the third and final
reading.
PASSED AND ADOPTED on third and final reading this 9th day of June, 1997.
Eric S. Clifford, Mayor
ATTEST:
Mattie Cunningham, City Clerk
APPROVED S O FORM:
T. K. Haynes, City Attorney
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