Council cleans house on Kingston and Area Taxi Commission

Current board members were replaced by a newly appointed board by Council at Tuesday's meeting.

Sweeping changes are being made to the board of the Kingston and Area Taxi and Licensing Commission (KATLC).

A motion was presented at Tuesday's Council meeting by Cllr. Greg Ridge and seconded by Cllr. Brandon Tozzo to remove all publicaly appointed members of the board immediately.

After some discussion and debate, Council passed the motion by a 10-3 vote.

Tozzo, who has been an outspoken critic of KATLC, says a house cleaning was needed in order to right the ship.

Five new members were appointed by Council at Tuesday's meeting: Eric Davis, Bruce Geddes, Courtney Mahoney, Jacquelyn Maxwell, and Oren Nimelman. The new board will also have Ridge as the Council representative.

Originally set to take effect on Nov. 30, the new board will now be in place and serve until the City takes over the taxi licensing and governance next September.

Tozzo, a former member of the KATLC board, is confident the new board will be able to be more prudent with the finances.

Council also formally assumed control of the Accessible Taxi Program from the KATLC at Tuesday's meeting. It was recently revealed that the program was over $230,000 in debt.

Tozzo believes the program can be saved now that the City has taken it over.

Council had extended their agreement with KATLC this past June. But after Tozzo left the board over transparency issues, Council voted to dissolve the commission in August.

Story by Ken Hashizume