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HomeMy WebLinkAbout956ORDINANCE NO. 956 ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF UKIAH ADDING SECTION 2053 TO DIVISION 1, CHAPTER 13 OF THE UKIAH CITY CODE, PROVIDING FOR THE RECOVERY OF RESPONSE COSTS FROM INTOXICATED DRIVERS The city Council of the City of ukiah hereby ordains as follows: SECTXON ON . The city Council hereby finds: 1. In Sections 53150 to 53158 of the Government Code, the State Legislature has provided local governments with a right to recover the costs of an appropriate emergency response caused by the negligent operation of a motor vehicle by any person who is under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or any drug or both. 2. Government Code §53158 states that the Legislature did not intend to occupy the field of recovery of the expense of an emergency response by a public agency. The Government Code sections are intended to supplement and not supplant any other provisions of law relating to the recovery of those expenses. 3. The city incurs substantial costs in apprehending and otherwise responding to motor vehicle operators who operate their vehicles negligently or in a willfully wrongful manner, while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or any drug or both. 4. The irresponsible users of alcohol or drugs should bear the cost of emergency responses their conduct makes necessary rather than the taxpayers of the City. Moreover, the liability imposed by this ordinance will further deter drivers from operating motor vehicles while they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. SECTION TWO. Enactment of Section 2053. Section 2053 is hereby added to Chapter 13 of Division 1 of the ukiah city Code to read as follows: §2053: RECOVERY OF RESPONSE COSTS FROM INTOXICATED DRIVERS: Any person who is under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or any drug, or the combined influence of an alcoholic beverage and any drug, and as a result operates a motor vehicle negligently or in a willfully wrongful manner, shall be liable for the expense of an emergency response by the City caused by that person's operation of s:\u\ords95\DUI 1 February 15, 1995 the vehicle. a. "An emergency response," as used herein and in Article 8, Chapter 1, Part 1, Division 2 of the Government Code (commencing with Section 53150), means any response by the City's fire or police departments to a driver operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs or an incident caused by that driver, that requires the use of lights or sirens on an emergency vehicle, such as, but not limited to, a police car, fire truck or ambulance. b. "Expense of an emergency response," as used herein, means reasonable costs incurred by City departments in making an emergency response, including the salaries and associated overhead of providing police, firefighting, rescue and/or emergency medical services during the response, a reasonable charge for the cost of emergency vehicles used during the response, and the cost of any consumable supplies used during the response. c. For purposes of this Section, a person is under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or any drug, or the combined influence of an alcoholic beverage and any drug, when as a result of drinking an alcoholic beverage or using a drug, or both, his or her physical or mental abilities are impaired to a degree that he or she no longer has the ability to operate a motor vehicle with the caution characteristic of a sober person of ordinary prudence under the same or similar circumstances. For purposes of this Section, the presumptions described in Sections 23152 and 23155 of the Vehicle Code shall apply. d. In no event shall one person's liability for an emergency response exceed $1,500. However, if two or more persons have liability under this Section for the expense of a single emergency response, their combined liability may exceed $1,500. e. The expense of an emergency response shall be a charge against the person liable for expenses under this Section. The charge constitutes a debt of that person and is collectible by the City in the same manner as in the case of. an obligation under a contract. (1) The police department shall have the authority to collect the debts created by this Section and may commence law suits, assign the debts to a debt collection agency, and utilize the services of the Finance Department and the City Attorney in seeking to collect such debts. (2) Before using any of the means set forth in subsection (1) to collect the debt, the police department shall make written demand on the debtor for the expense of the emergency response. The written demand shall provide the debtor with the s:\u\ords95\DUI 2 February 15, 1995 67 name, address and phone number of a City official who he or she can contact to protest his or her liability for the expense, the amount claimed or to arrange a payment schedule. The debtor shall have ten (10~ days from the date of the demand to contact the designated official. (3) Once the time has passed to contact the official designated under subsection (1), the City may set off the amount owed under this Section against any amounts the City owes the debtor. (4) The remedies provided herein shall not prevent the City from collecting interest on amounts assessed under this Section, if otherwise allowed by this Code or other provisions of state law or pursuing any other remedies at law or in equity to recover the amount claimed under this Section and to collect that amount from the debtor. SECTION THREE: Publication and Effective Date. This ordinance shall become effective thirty (30) days from its adoption and shall be published as required by law. SECTION FOUR: Application. This ordinance shall apply to all emergency responses which have taken place prior to or after the effective date of this ordinance. Introduced by title only on February 1, 1995, by the following roll call vote: AYES:Councilmembers Mastin, Malone, Wattenburger and Vice-Mayor Shoemaker NOES: None ABSENT:Mayor Schneiter s:\u\ords95\DUI February 15, 1995 3 68 Adopted on February 15, 1995, by the following roll call vote: AYES:Councilmembers Mastin, Malone, Wattenburger, Shoemaker and Mayor Schneiter NOES: None ABSENT: None ~~ Ma~or Fre~ Schneiter ATTEST~ ~ity ~le~k/cath~ ~Kay s:\u\ords95\DUI 4 February 15, 1995