Fourteen different organizations have submitted proposals to the Nome City Council asking for a portion of the $150,000 NSEDC Community Benefit Share. During the 5:30pm work session Monday night, the Council heard representatives from almost all of the organizations before adjourning to their regular meeting.
Only one piece of unfinished business was on the Council’s regular meeting agenda Monday night: the contentious issue of transferring three taxi cab licenses from EZ Cab to Mr. Kab.
Peter Lee, the owner of Mr. Kab, explained why he needs the extra licenses.
“And we can’t even run with three cabs, because it’s always broken down,” said Lee. “Sometimes, we only run with two cabs, sometimes with one cab, and somedays with no cabs. And we have regular customers who are waiting for us to go work or to school…”
Rodney Jones, the owner of Nome Checker Cab, was concerned that Lee would operate all of his six cabs at once if he got three more taxi licenses. So, Councilman Anderson suggested an amendment that would even out the number of taxi cab licenses for all cab companies.
“Why don’t we take one of Checker Cab’s, give it to Mr. Kab, (and) drop the other three? Then, I think each company ought to just have four permits, and we take the rest of them back and let it go, or something like that,” posed Anderson.
Councilman Louie Green, Sr., argued that taking existing licenses away from other cab companies would cause the taxi owners to lose the money they had invested in the licenses and violate their property rights.
Councilman Brown responded by saying the City has the ability to rescind taxi licenses.
“In the taxi cab license regulations, it says the City Council shall determine from time to time the maximum number of taxi cabs to be licensed for commercial purposes within the City. The number of licenses issued during any year shall be based upon or reasonably related to the economics of generating sufficient revenues for licensees. It doesn’t say anything about the licenses becoming a property right,” explained Brown.
City Manager Tom Moran agreed with Councilman Brown, but also mentioned that there was an argument to be made for the taxi businesses’ constitutional right. After about an hour of discussion on the resolution, and its several failed amendments, the motion to transfer three taxi licenses from EZ Cab to Mr. Kab was voted down. Only four councilmen voted, as Councilman Johnson was recused from voting to avoid any perception that his involvement with Checker Cab, a client of his, would sway his decision.
From there, the rest of the meeting went by without incident; two new ordinances were passed on to the second reading phase, including one to approve NJUS’s operations and maintenance budget. Before adjourning the meeting, the five present Councilman passed a resolution updating Nome’s Hazard Mitigation plan.
The City Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for January 23rd at 7pm, which will most likely be preceded by another work session.
