The owner of a local taxi service will learn next week whether he can continue ferrying passengers.
The City of Crawfordsville denied a permit renewal application from Scott Servies, who operates VIP Taxi. Servies appealed the decision Wednesday to the Board of Public Works and Safety in a virtual hearing.
“I think he’s done a good job,” said Servies’ attorney, John Capper IV. “I think your goal is, as a board, to see that he’s able to appropriately serve the public, so we kind of stand on that.”
Capper said the local hospital frequently calls the taxi to deliver patients to their homes or rehabilitation facilities, and factory workers often hail rides to and from work. The business opened in 2018.
Servies plans to become licensed to transport Medicaid recipients, Capper said.
Capper provided documents showing Servies carries more liability insurance than the city requires and has the proper endorsement from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles to operate a taxi business.
City attorney Kent Minnette asked Capper to address Servies’ 2019 conviction on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a drug or alcohol screening test. Capper also represented Servies in that case.
“I feel like that doesn’t relate to this licensing,” Capper replied, “and that if it does, he properly took care of that through the court system. It did not involve any other passenger or anything else.”
The board said it would make a decision on the appeal at its next meeting Wednesday.
In other business, the board:
• Approved a supplemental contract with HWC Engineering in an amount not to exceed $200,261 for work on the
downtown loop trail conducted over the winter.
• Approved a new route for the Walk Through Time walking trail featuring downtown historical landmarks. The route was changed due to construction of the loop trail.
Starting at the Crawfordsville District Public Library, the route continues north to Main Street, turns south on Water Street, east on Pike Street, south on Wallace Avenue and west on Wabash Avenue to the Masonic Cornerstone Event Center.
The route is co-sponsored by the Montgomery County Wellness Coalition and the League of Women Voters, with funding provided by the Montgomery County Convention and Visitors Commission.
• Granted approval for code enforcement Barry Lewis to seek quotes for removing a hazardous tree at 700 S. Water St.
• Approved a mowing request at 201-203 Dry Branch Drive owned by GKC Indiana Theaters Inc.
