Taxicab service back in town

A month without taxi service in town likely left some tourists
and residents out in the cold. But taxis should be up and running
this week after the city council approved certification of
Healdsburg Taxi, under new ownership, on Monday night.
The sale of Healdsburg Taxi from former owner Susan Graf to
Santa Rosa’s A-C Taxi owner Kevin Kroh in mid-February left the
city without a licensed taxi company and apparent confusion over
the city’s liability insurance requirements delayed the
certification further.
“I want to apologize to the city for the very quick departure of
Healdsburg Taxi,” Graf said. “But I personally couldn’t afford to
subsidize this service when it was costing me money.”
Graf said she was confident that Kroh, who has ample experience
in the taxi business, would be well-suited for the job.
“This person runs a taxi business,” she said. “I run a dress
shop. I chose these people because they know what they are
doing.”
Graf owns and operates Susan Graf Ltd., a women’s clothing store
on the plaza.
Kroh, who once carried a certificate to operate a taxi company
in Healdsburg in 2000, said his company is going to keep the same
drivers in town, use the same Healdsburg Taxi vehicles and operate
out of the same location as the business has since 2005.
Because Kroh intends to hire the drivers as independent
contractors rather than as employees of the company, he plans to be
able to lower the fares by $2 per drop off and $1 per mile. He
anticipates that fares will be about 25 percent lower than the
former rates.
Under Healdsburg’s municipal code relating to taxicabs for hire,
a new operator permit can’t be issued by the city without approval
from the council. Before that can happen, an application is
submitted to the Healdsburg Police Department indicating that the
applicant is financially responsible, is of good moral character,
that another taxicab business is not adequately serving the public
and that additional taxicab services won’t result in a hazard to
the public or cause traffic or parking problems.
Once the city was informed that Healdsburg Taxi had been sold,
the police initiated a background check and according to Police
Sgt. Matt Jenkins, Kroh met all of the city’s requirements, except
those regarding vehicle liability insurance.
While the city councilmembers were in favor of “getting this
business back up and running,” confusion over the language of
liability insurance required by the city apparently cost the
company some additional wait time.
“We are not clear what the city is asking for. We provided the
entire application,” Kroh said on Monday night.
But, after certification was approved by a 4-0 vote of the
council, a meeting was set for Tuesday to figure out the final
details of the insurance requirements.
“Somehow the city has been made to look like the bad guy,”
councilmember Eric Ziedrich said. “The specifics are spelled out
very clearly for a responsive insurance company,” he said.
City councilmembers also requested that another meeting be
called for mid-April to clarify the taxicab ordinance and get it in
line with what other cities in the county require to operate.
“We do welcome you to the community, I understand it’s been a
bit of a choppy start,” said councilmember Mike McGuire.