Despite protests and warnings from towing company owners, New Braunfels City Council on Monday approved a new way for the city police department to procure towing services for the 1,600 tows it orders every year.
Police Chief Tom Wibert said the current system, in which 17 different towing companies are each used for three weeks during the year, makes it difficult for the police department to monitor whether the companies are operating legally.
Wibert said that while most towing companies on the list are
“very good partners,” one company overcharged a police department
customer by $183 for a 6-minute tow and is now under criminal
investigation.
Another one or two are also operating illegally and “ripping off
people in the name of the police department,” Wibert said. “We can’t
have that.”
The chief suggested a new procedure under which a single company
would be chosen by competitive bid as the police department’s primary
towing-service provider and a second company would be picked as a backup
for “overflow” needs.
Two New Braunfels towing company owners, Samuel Campos of
Citywide Towing and Jeremy Hernandez of JJ’s Towing, told council they
didn’t like the idea of one towing company being named the police
department’s primary provider.
Campos said the rotation should be kept in place, with the offending companies being removed from the list.
Hernandez said he didn’t think a single company could handle the job.
Hernandez said he didn’t think a single company could handle the job.
Manuel Guajardo of MG’s Towing and Storage, who said he sued the
city — and won — over towing laws a dozen years ago, cautioned the
council to be careful that it didn’t wind up in court once again.
Assistant City Attorney Frank Onion advised council that legal
precedent at both the federal and state levels support municipalities
naming a sole-provider for police-ordered tows.
The chief said the police department orders wreckers for such
things as clearing roadways after accidents, impounding vehicles and for
seizing vehicles for evidence.Onion said private citizens would still have the option of
choosing their towing-service provider, unless officers at the scene
determine it would be faster to clear an accident, for instance, by
using the police department’s designated provider.
