Safety Committee 01-09-12 Minutes.pdf - Streetsboro

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prices lower. If only one business was chosen then they could charge whatever they wanted. He would even prefer to have more businesses on the towing list; “There was no reason to limit the towing.” He commented that Interstate Towing and Gateway Towing both did a wonderful job and were able to back each other up. He added that Interstate could handle huge wrecks (that Gateway couldn’t), that Interstate paid income tax to Streetsboro, and they rented property in town. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with having additional people available to use. Mr. Kocisko said the Streetsboro businesses paid their income taxes to Streetsboro, whereas Interstate was an out of town business and did not pay taxes to Streetsboro, which he felt was a big issue; tax revenue was needed to keep the City operating. Brett McClafferty commented from the audience that Interstate’s location on Ethan Drive was closed. Mayor Broska understood that Interstate had left Streetsboro because they were taken off the towing list and not making money in Streetsboro, but were to come back to Streetsboro now that they were back on the list. They had gone before the Planning Commission because there were things they had to do to their property in order to comply with the conditional use permit, which they did, so Planning Commission granted their conditional use permit. Mayor Broska said when they complied with the Planning Commission’s requirements, that’s when they went back onto the towing list, and there were only two companies on the towing list (Interstate and Gateway). He felt competition was important. Mr. Kocisko felt the businesses in town should be the ones the Mayor (and City) should support, unless they couldn’t provide the needed service, but there was a towing company in town. Mayor Broska noted that Interstate Towing had just as much right to compete in Streetsboro as any of the restaurants. Mr. Kocisko wondered if the towing needs of Streetsboro were large enough to need more than one business providing it. Mr. Claypoole suggested bidding the job and just using the one company that provided the lowest bid. Mayor Broska said “you can’t do that” because we can’t contract with a company and say they would get a certain amount of runs or a certain amount of money. He said the City was currently working on its towing ordinance that had been in place since 1971 that would stipulate what Streetsboro would expect our towing companies to provide and the opportunity to provide that should be open and not limit the competition. Mr. Claypoole thought the service should be bid like the trash service. Mrs. Field said the current ordinance allowed up to five towing companies to be on the rotation. Chief Mosley explained in the past it hadn’t been an issue because Streetsboro Auto was the sole tow provider for many years. He felt the primary issue to be addressed was customer service and the towing guidelines/qualifications could be defined through a contract or through an ordinance. Mrs. Field asked if the consumer could be allowed to choose the tow provider instead of using a rotation system between the two. Chief Mosley explained that there were police enforcement tows and then all other tows where the customer could chose a provider. Mrs. Pavlick wasn’t sure why this was an agenda item. She commented that this country was built on the backs of small businesses and she didn’t want to stifle anyone from starting a business here or Safety Committee 01-09-12 Page 2 of 6
from being utilized by the City. She tried to shop in Streetsboro as much as possible, but she didn’t want a monopoly and she felt competition helped keep prices in line, so it was OK to use a list. Mr. Kocisko didn’t agree with the word monopoly, he just wanted to choose to use Streetsboro businesses when possible. Mrs. Pavlick added that as long as the towing business followed EPA guidelines and the City’s regulations there shouldn’t be a problem with the City using them. It was confirmed there was just one towing company currently in Streetsboro but Interstate was planning to relocate in Streetsboro again now that they were back on the list. Mr. Ruediger was interested in any businesses coming to Streetsboro. Mr. Faivre wondered if there was a problem with the rotation system with each business getting 50% of the calls. He preferred everything stayed in Streetsboro, but with only one business it could be a monopoly with higher prices. Mr. Ruediger asked if there was a price difference between the companies. Chief Mosley said he didn’t know about the prices because the towing companies were private entities that set their own rates. Brett McClafferty, 8261 Diagonal Road, said Interstate Towing was evicted in September 2011 from the Ethan Parkway location and that’s why they were taken off the towing rotation. Because they were no longer operating in Streetsboro and they were not conforming with their conditional use permit, that’s why they were taken off the towing rotation. He said they weren’t taken off the towing rotation and then left Streetsboro. He noted that Ohio Revised Code set the maximum amount a towing company could charge under consumer law. He said the issue before Council tonight wasn’t competition or capitalism; it was taking care of our own businesses. He didn’t think the City should take its business outside of the City, plus there was a convenience factor for our residents to use a Streetsboro business. Mr. McClafferty added that every employee of Gateway Towing lived in the City of Streetsboro and paid their income taxes here and sales tax in Portage County, but Interstate Towing paid their sales tax in Summit County and their income tax went to Macedonia. Mr. McClafferty said he supported competition and would support using multiple Streetsboro towing companies, but as of today there was only one legal impound yard, only one tow company, operating out of the City of Streetsboro. He thought Streetsboro shouldn’t use Interstate because Streetsboro didn’t “benefit from those dollars.” He thought, until Interstate came back to Streetsboro, it was a shame that the administration would consider sending a single taxpayer dollar outside Streetsboro. Art Scott, 8525 Diagonal Road and former Mayor, said Interstate wasn’t a legal towing company in Streetsboro and added that all of the Gateway employees lived in Streetsboro and paid taxes here. Mr. Scott said it took him six months during his term as Mayor to determine if Gateway would be the lone towing company, although the City ordinances allow up to five. He was concerned about taking tax dollars out of the City and about reducing the work for the in-town towing company by half, which might cause them to cut jobs. He added that Gateway could accommodate heavy towing. He said many other towns had single towing companies providing their towing services. He didn’t think Streetsboro had enough towing to have two (or five) towing companies. Jeff Allen, 8221 SR 14 and Gateway Towing owner, confirmed that in the past this wasn’t an issue Safety Committee 01-09-12 Page 3 of 6
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Safety Committee 01-09-12 Minutes.pdf - Streetsboro

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