[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
There has been a proliferation of privately owned public telephones being installed in the public right-of-way in the City. These telephones have become a focal point in the City, particularly in commercial districts, for illegal activity, including serving as a center of drug trafficking, and having caused vehicular and pedestrian obstructions to traffic when the telephones are in use. It is, therefore, the determination of this Council that in the interests of the public safety and welfare of the citizens of the City of Poughkeepsie, and the City itself, this article regulating the installation and placement of public telephones, is hereby enacted.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
DISTRIBUTOR
Any person responsible for placing and maintaining a pay telephone in a public right-of-way.
PAY TELEPHONE
Any self-service currency or credit-operated telephone, including customer-owned or customer-leased telephone, and including any telephone owned by the local exchange company or by any other person, which is held out for use by the general public upon payment of a fee or charge by currency or credit.
PERSON
Any individual, business, firm, corporation, association, partnership or other organization or group of persons.
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY
Any area dedicated to public use for the purpose of travel or passage and including streets, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, planting strips, alleys and roadways.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
No person shall place or maintain any pay telephone on or above any public right-of-way or in any place requiring the user to stand in or otherwise occupy any public right-of-way in the City of Poughkeepsie without first having obtained a permit as provided in this article.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
(a) 
Application for permit shall be made in writing to the City Administrator upon such form as may be established for such purpose and shall contain the name and address of the applicant, the specific location of the proposed telephone or telephones and shall be signed by the applicant.
(b) 
Before installation, a plan of the pay telephone shall be submitted, in sufficient detail describing the size, location, equipment and means of installation and cabling.
(c) 
Each application must be accompanied by a permit fee of $25 per pay telephone covered by such application.
(d) 
The term of a permit shall be one year to commence on June 1 and to expire on May 31.
(e) 
A renewal application shall be filed no later than 60 days prior to the expiration date and must be accompanied by a fee of $10 for each pay telephone covered thereby if no change is to be made in the location of said pay telephone or $25 per pay telephone for which a change of location is requested.
(f) 
Each applicant shall file with the application for a permit or for the renewal thereof a certificate of public liability insurance written on an occurrence basis indicating the City of Poughkeepsie as a named insured with limits of not less than $1,000,000 per accident and $2,000,000 aggregate and property damage insurance with limits of not less than $100,000 per accident and $300,000 aggregate. Said certificates of insurance must be written by an insurer licensed to do business in the State of New York.
(g) 
The City Administrator shall be informed of the intent of any person to remove or relocate a pay telephone.
(h) 
Before receiving a permit, an applicant shall:
(1) 
Execute an indemnification agreement substantially as follows: The applicant and any other person on whose behalf the application is made agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the City of Poughkeepsie against liability for all claims for damage to property or injury to or death of persons arising out of or resulting from the issuance of the permit or the control, maintenance or ownership or use of each pay telephone.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
(a) 
Pay telephones shall permit the following calls to be placed without charge:
(1) 
Calls to the 911 emergency number.
(2) 
Emergency calls placed through operator assistance to the Police and Fire Departments.
(3) 
Calls placed through operator assistance to the Police and Fire Departments by anyone identified as a member of either Department.
(b) 
Current telephone rates shall be posted on the pay telephone or on the telephone booth.
(c) 
The identity of the inter-exchange company carrying calls from the pay telephone and instructions for obtaining access to other inter-exchange companies shall be posted on the pay telephone or booth.
(d) 
The permit number shall be posted on the pay telephone or booth.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
Pay telephones shall comply with the following standards:
(a) 
No booth surrounding a pay telephone shall exceed eight feet in height, four feet in width or four feet in depth.
(b) 
Each pay telephone shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism to permit a person using the telephone to secure an immediate refund if a call cannot be placed. The coin-return mechanism shall be maintained in good working order.
(c) 
Each pay telephone shall have affixed to it, in a place visible to everyone using the telephone, a telephone number of the distributor and the telephone number of a working telephone service to report a malfunction, to secure a refund or to give the notices provided for in this article.
(d) 
Pay telephones shall be maintained in a neat and clean condition and in good repair at all times. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a telephone shall be served and maintained so that:
(1) 
It is reasonably free of chipped, faded, peeling and cracked paint in the visible painted areas thereof.
(2) 
It is reasonably free of rust and corrosion in the visible unpainted metal areas thereon.
(3) 
Any clear plastic or glass parts are unbroken and reasonably free of cracks, dents, graffiti blemishes and discolorations.
(4) 
Any paper or cardboard parts or inserts are reasonably free of tears, peeling or facing.
(5) 
The structural parts thereof are not broken or unduly misshapen.
(6) 
The telephone receiver is attached to the pay telephone.
(e) 
Any owner or permittee who fails to maintain its pay telephone in working condition may be given a ten-day notice by the city to repair the telephone. If the telephone is not in working condition at the end of the ten-day period, the City Administrator may revoke the permit unless the permittee provides assurance that the telephone shall be repaired or removed.
(f) 
Each pay telephone shall provide local directory or information assistance without charge, provided that the distributor is not charged for such call by the local telephone company.
(g) 
Each pay telephone shall, upon written request of the Chief of Police, be restricted to outgoing calls only, within 10 days of the request.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
(a) 
No pay telephone shall be permitted to rest upon, in or over any public street or sidewalk when such installation, use or maintenance:
(1) 
Endangers the safety of persons or property;
(2) 
Unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrians or vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or stopped vehicles;
(3) 
Unreasonably interferes with the ingress or egress from any residence or place of business; or
(4) 
Interferes with the use of traffic signs or signals, hydrants or mailboxes permitted at or near said location.
(b) 
Pay telephones shall be placed or otherwise secured so as to prevent their being blown down or around the public street or sidewalk, but shall not be chained or otherwise secured to any traffic or street signs, signals, hydrants or mailboxes.
(c) 
No pay telephones shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:
(1) 
Within any marked crosswalk.
(2) 
Within three feet of a curb return of any unmarked crosswalk.
(3) 
Within 15 feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, police call box or other emergency facility.
(4) 
Within five feet of any driveway.
(5) 
Within three feet of any public area improved with a lawn, flowers, shrubs, trees or other landscaping.
(6) 
At any location where the clear space for the passageway of pedestrians is reduced to less than six feet.
(7) 
Within three feet of any building unless written permission is secured from the property owner and filed with the application.
(8) 
Within 10 feet of any entrance to a residence, store or public building.
(d) 
Pay telephones shall not be placed on sidewalks in front of street addresses where there appears to be continuous criminal activity. "Continuous criminal activity" means reports to police of more than four criminal incidents at an address in a month prior to the date of the application or more than 12 reported criminal incidents in a year prior to the date of the application.
(e) 
No pay telephone or telecommunication device shall be placed on a sidewalk within 10,000 feet of any other telephone or telecommunication device in any R-1, R-2 and PRD District as described in Chapter 19, Zoning.
(f) 
No pay telephone or telecommunication device shall be placed on a sidewalk within 1,200 feet of any other telephone or telecommunication device for any OR, R-2A, R-3, R-3A, R-4, R-5, R-6, H-M, Industrial and Transportation Districts as described in Chapter 19, Zoning.
(g) 
No pay telephone or telecommunication device shall be placed on a sidewalk within 2,400 feet of any other telephone or telecommunication device for any Commercial District and Waterfront District as described in Chapter 19, Zoning.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
(a) 
A licensee granted a permit to install or operate a pay telephone after the date this chapter becomes effective shall pay to the city for the continued privilege and use of the streets, rights-of-way, easements, public ways and other facilities of the City, in the operation of pay telephones and for supervision thereof by the city during the term of the permit, a sum based upon the monthly gross usage of the pay telephone as follows:
(1) 
One hundred fifty dollars or less: no fee due.
(2) 
One hundred fifty dollars to $500: 7% of the monthly usage.
(3) 
Over $500: 9% of the monthly usage.
(b) 
A pay telephone licensee shall file with the Commissioner of Finance, within 45 days after the expiration of each month, a detailed financial and revenue statement clearly showing the gross monthly usage of each pay telephone during the preceding month and certified by a certified public accountant or officer of a pay telephone licensee attesting to the accuracy, completeness and veracity of the usage figures. Such statement shall be in the form and format approved by the Comptroller of the city.
(c) 
Payment of the monthly commission shall be rendered to the city at the time the financial statement is filed.
(d) 
In the event that payment is not made within 30 days after the date specified in this section, then such pay telephone licensee may be declared in violation of this article and the license granted hereunder may be revoked, terminated or canceled in the manner prescribed by this article.
(e) 
The right of audit and recomputation of any and all amounts paid as commissions shall always be accorded to the city.
(f) 
No acceptance of payment shall be construed as a release of or an accord or satisfaction of any claim that the city might have for further or additional sums payable under the terms of this article or for any other performance or obligation of a pay telephone licensee.
(g) 
Payments of compensation made by a pay telephone licensee to the city, pursuant to the provisions of this article, shall be considered in addition to and exclusive of any and all authorized taxes, business license fees, other fees, other levies or assessments presently in effect or subsequently adopted.
(h) 
In the event that an operator wishes to place more than one pay telephone in a given location in addition to the plan or sketch as required, he shall submit economic or demographic data to support the need for the number of pay telephones proposed. The City Administrator shall review this data and, after consultation with the Police Department, he shall have the discretion to allow more than one pay telephone to be placed or maintained in the proposed location.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
Upon receipt of a complaint by a citizen or a representative of the Police Department that the provisions of this article are not being complied with or that the location and use of a pay telephone interferes with the health and welfare of the public, the City Administrator, or his/her designee, shall conduct a hearing, after providing notices of the same to all affected parties to ascertain if the provisions of this article have been violated of if the use of the pay telephone endangers the health and welfare of the community. If he/she finds by the preponderance of the evidence presented that the use of the telephone constitutes a violation of the standards and conditions of this article or constitutes a threat to the health and welfare of the public, he/she shall revoke any permit issued for the placement of such pay telephone or may also order such other relief as he/she deems fair.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
The distributor of all existing pay telephones, except those who operate under a franchise granted by the city and subject to special franchise assessment for such pay telephone equipment, shall make application for a permit under the provisions of this article within 60 days after the effective date of this article.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
Any violation of this article shall subject the violator to the general penalty provisions provided in § 1-8 of the Code of the City of Poughkeepsie. These penalties shall be in addition to the administrative sanctions in § 14-9.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, word, section or part of this article shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impune or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, word, section or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.
[Ord. of 5-15-1997, § 1]
This article shall take effect immediately upon adoption.