CITY MAY PAY FOR CABBIES' DRUG TESTS

NASHUA ­ An aldermanic committee recommended Thursday night that the city
pay for random drug testing of taxicab drivers without raising licensing fees.

The vote of the aldermanic Personnel/Administrative Affairs committee came
following several hours of discussion in which taxicab drivers packed a
hearing in the aldermanic chamber at City Hall.

The city approved a random urinalysis testing policy for drivers in March
1998 that required drivers to pay for the tests themselves, but the policy
was never enforced until Thursday, the same day as a public hearing on the
proposed changes to the ordinance.

Aldermen Thursday night were discussing a proposal that would tighten the
language of the original ordinance and increase the license fees from $50
to $80 to help pay for the random drug testing, to prevent drivers from
having to come up with the money on the spot ­ as they were forced to do
Thursday.

Under the committee's recommendation, the city would keep the taxicab
driver's license fee at $50 and remove the requirement that taxicab drivers
pay for any random drug tests themselves.

The cost of the random drug testing to the city ­ estimated at about $3,750
­ would be funded through the revenue raised from the current licensing fee.

"The important piece is to prove to the public that there aren't any issues
with the taxi drivers with regards to drugs," said Alderman-at-Large Jim
Tollner, chair of the personnel committee.

Tollner said he agreed to the recommendations because he believes "it is
more of a burden on the individual taxi driver to pay for the drug testing
than it is for the city."

The committee also recommended that taxicab drivers who paid for the random
testing themselves Thursday be reimbursed and promissory notes for those
who did not have the money for the test should be forgiven.

In addition, the committee recommended that taxicab drivers provide
certified copies of their motor vehicle and criminal records at a cost of
$20 to the applicant and that owners of taxicabs provide a certified copy
of their criminal record history at a cost of $10 to themselves.

The Board of Aldermen is expected to vote on the recommendations at its
next meeting Wednesday.

City Clerk Paul Bergeron said Friday that taxicab drivers were warned in
August that the city would begin the random drug testing by the end of
September.

The letters went out after Tollner asked aldermen to send the legislation
poised for final approval back to committee to hear more input from the
taxicab drivers.

Bergeron, who took over as city clerk late last year, said the system to
conduct the random drug testing was not in place when he began at City
Hall. He has been working to put the system in place during this licensing
year, which began in April, and needed to have the first round of drug
testing done by the end of the September.

Compliance Network was chosen in August to administer the drug testing. It
took the company several weeks to prepare the database of licensed taxicab
drivers in order to pull a sample of 50 percent of the estimated 100
drivers for the latest round of testing per year, only a portion of whom
would be tested during a particular quarter.

The drug testing company had originally planned to do the testing
Wednesday, but abandoned its plans when it learned that the police
department was holding an open house for the newly expanded station because
the drug tests are administered there.

Bergeron said it was purely coincidence that the tests occurred Thursday,
the same night as the committee hearing. The city had originally proposed
the drug testing policy so the city can confidently license taxi drivers as
public carriers.