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Pocatello council overturns taxicab-license denial for applicant with 21-year-old conviction
Summary
The Pocatello City Council voted to reject the police department's denial of a taxicab license for Anijan Van Ziverdin, who disclosed a criminal conviction from 21 years ago. Police licensing said the denial was based on city code 5.5605(e), which bars applicants with convictions involving moral turpitude or violence.
The Pocatello City Council on May 20 voted to overturn a Pocatello Police Department denial of a taxicab license for Anijan Van Ziverdin, who told the council the conviction that triggered the denial occurred about 21 years ago and that he has had no subsequent charges.
Mallory Bascom, Pocatello police licensing, told the council she denied Van Ziverdin’s application under city code 5.5605 subsection (e), which “states that applicants must possess a criminal record free from conviction for any felony or for any crimes involving moral turpitude or violence,” and that the city code currently uses a lifelong look-back. Bascom said Van Ziverdin’s record showed a February charge in Utah that resulted in a conviction for “physical child abuse/neglect/cruelty toward a child,” a class A misdemeanor, a two-year supervised probation term, a $400 fine and a suspended one-year jail sentence.
Van Ziverdin spoke to the council and described the conviction as “one of the worst days of my life,” saying he “paid for that dearly” and that over the last 21 years he has had no additional charges. He told council members he had rebuilt relationships with family members and said, “I’m completely different. I have changed every way that I can be.”
Council member Paulson moved to reject the denial of the license; Council member Cheatham seconded. The clerk called the roll and the motion passed, allowing Van Ziverdin to pursue the licensing steps with police licensing staff.
The discussion included a council member questioning whether a misdemeanor could still be disqualifying; Bascom responded that the code’s language—beyond felonies—also disqualifies convictions involving violence, which is how the child-abuse conviction was applied in this case. Another council member suggested that the term “moral turpitude” is vague and noted a broader code review is underway.
The council’s action effectively reversed the police licensing decision; Bascom told Van Ziverdin after the vote that staff would assist him with next steps.
Why this matters: The vote shows the council can overturn administrative licensing decisions and highlights a precise clause in city code that treats convictions involving violence as disqualifying regardless of whether they were felonies or misdemeanors. The council also noted work is underway to evaluate and update code language.
The council did not establish changes to code language during the meeting; Bascom and council members said a separate code review process is in progress.
