Findlay Council committee takes the wheel on taxi rules

FINDLAY — Findlay's Streets, Sidewalks and Parking Committee is asking the administration to revise the city's proposed overhaul of taxi cab regulations after council members raised concerns about governance, clarity and future enforcement. First introduced Jan. 20, the ordinance moved through two readings before council delivered a unanimous rebuke on Feb. 18, voting 0-9 to reject it, with Councilwoman Carol Smith, R-3, absent. The rewrite is intended to modernize Findlay's taxi‑cab regulations for the first time since 1979, replacing the city's decades‑old framework with clearer licensing standards, updated safety requirements and a defined oversight process. The new chapter is designed to establish consistent rules for taxi companies and drivers, align the code with current administrative practices and clarify how the city handles background checks, insurance verification, operating standards and fee structures. Officials say the goal is to produce a streamlined, workable system that supports legitimate operators and gives the city an updated set of tools to oversee the industry moving forward. However, council members have criticized the rewrite for vague language, uneven standards and a structure that placed too much control in the service-safety director's hands. After a detailed discussion in a meeting held Feb. 25, committee members laid out several changes they want made to the ordinance before it goes back to council, including reinstating the city's Taxi Cab Board. The committee is chaired by Councilwoman Nichole Coleman, R-1, with council members Smith and Brad Wagner, R-5. The Taxi Cab Board is a small, three-member panel that appears in Findlay's original 1979 taxi‑cab ordinance but hasn't been active in years. Under the old code, the board was responsible for reviewing applications, handling complaints and helping the city decide whether a company or driver should be licensed. It was made up of the mayor, the service‑safety director and the police chief, giving the city a built-in oversight group with input from both administration and law enforcement. Although the board hasn't met in decades, it technically still exists in the code — and committee members said bringing it back would restore a needed checkpoint in the licensing process. In the initial version of the rewrite, nearly every licensing decision — from approving companies and drivers to handling tests, complaints and enforcement — was routed through the service-safety director's office. Committee members said the language was too open-ended, giving the director broad discretion to alter or waive requirements without a clear process and without any built‑in oversight. The Taxi Cab Board would spread responsibility across multiple offices and create a more predictable path for decisions. With that structure back in place, the committee argued, the ordinance no longer needs language granting the service-safety director broad authority, and asked that those sections of the ordinance be removed entirely. The committee also asked the administration to pull all fees out of the ordinance itself and place them in a separate fee schedule that council must approve. That approach mirrors how the city handles other regulated activities and ensures that any changes go through a public vote. Members said the change would make the system more transparent and give both the city and taxi operators a clear, easily accessible record of what the fees are and how they are set. It also clears away outdated language that still reflected the city's 1979 code, including a decades-old $5 per-cab charge that no longer matches current practice. Finally, the committee asked for a general cleanup of wording throughout the draft — especially several passages tied to ownership and other operating standards — to make sure the final version reads plainly and matches how the city actually handles licensing today. The updated draft is expected to be returned to the committee for another review before being recommended to council.