Council moving forward with changes to taxi ordinance
Iowa City officials are hopeful proposed changes to the city’s taxicab ordinance will result in added safety among customers and drivers alike.
The majority of the Iowa City Council expressed during Tuesday’s work session a desire to further pursue recommendations made by Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine.
The recommendations follow a sexual assault investigation that became bogged down last year when officers spent hundreds of hours attempting to track down local cab driver information to build a case.
“We are asking for a few changes that we believe would assist us in future investigations and also assist cab owners maintain and run their companies with good, sound policies,” Hargadine said.
Hargadine recommends that all area companies hire drivers as employees, rather than as independent contractors who pay fees to the company owner in exchange for using the company name on privately owned vehicles, which is common in Iowa City, and that any company operating a taxicab business owns all the vehicles operating as taxicabs.
The changes would not only result in better records on area cab companies and their drivers, but would ensure all drivers are made eligible for company benefits, Hargadine wrote.
However, Councilor Susan Mims said she would like staff to explore alternatives to fully requiring cab companies to transition over to employees, which has the potential to cost people jobs.
“I think the additional cost of actually putting people on payroll can be prohibitive,” Mims said.
According to the Iowa Citygovernemnt website, more than 90 cabs are registered in Iowa City among 10 companies. However, City Clerk Marian Karr said the number of cabs will climb significantly in the coming weeks with the approach of football season and cooler weather.
Other recommendations listed in the letter include having the city issue photo identification cards for all drivers to maintain a comprehensive database on drivers, require unique color schemes for each company for better identification and having all drivers sign a receipt that they received a packet containing the city’s new taxicab ordinances.
Hargadine said he will begin the process of drafting a potential ordinance amendment resolution, while gathering input from area taxicab companies.
Councilor Jim Throgmorton strongly recommended that city staff gather public input from all stakeholders involved before drafting an official resolution.
“They should be involved in the process of sorting through the proposals,” he said, “so that we can come up with something that we can feel comfortable with.”
Reach Mitchell Schmidt at maschmidt@press-citizen.com or at 887-5402.