By Pauline Masson –
Calling a tow truck is about more than keeping streets and roadways clear and traffic moving, according to Police Chief Scott Melies.
A request from a local towing company owner to get a portion of the business when Pacific police call for a tow truck, led to a discussion on the city’s responsibility to keep streets clear while balancing the the needs of vehicle owners with fair treatment of towing business operators.
Dan Barfield, who operates John’s Towing at 3201 West Osage, triggered the lengthy conversation when he addressed aldermen at the May 16 board of aldermen meeting. Mr. Barfield said he has operated a 24-hour towing service for twenty years and routinely works with the Hwy Patrol and Franklin County but Pacific does almost all of its towing with one business.
”What does a business have to do to be considered on towing rotation,” he asked.
In what may be a coincidence, Mr. Barfield’s request came at the same time, the Pacific PD is reviewing towing practices and policy as it relates to city traffic, vehicle owners and towing ccompanies.
Responding to questions from Hometown Matters, Police Chief Scott Melies said there are no towing companies located within the city limits. Currently Big Boy’s Towing, Eureka is the only towing company that Pacific police call to remove inoperable vehicles from the street, but that could change within the next couple of months.
It is not as simple as going down a list and dialing a phone number. The challenges, the chief said, are that the police department is a third party when vehicles are towed from city streets. Towing is a transaction between the vehicle owner and the towing business.
When a vehicle breaks down or is in an accident on a Pacific street – or the section of I-44 that runs through Pacific – police have to clear the roadway for traffic as fast as practical. So they call a towing company to remove the inoperable vehicle or vehicles.
But that’s not the end of it. Owners are at the mercy of the towing companies that take damaged or broken down vehicle to a storage lot and set their own fees for towing and storage. And that is Chief Melies primary concern as he writes new regulations.
The chief said while he is considering response time and the type of equipment towing companies need he is also working on language that could assure fair pricing to vehicle owners, but it unclear whether a city can dictate how much a towing company can charge.
“We don’t want to place undue burdens on the vehicle owners,” Chief Melise said “If we call a tow company to pick up a vehicle, it will be taken to a storage lot and the owner will have to pay whatever fee the company charges.”
“It is a real concern to me that vehicle owners could be facing unreasonable charges,” Chief Melies said. “We would like to have some way to protect vehicle owners from exhorbitant prices. But we have to talk to the city attorney about if and how we could regulate what the companies could charge.”
The targets of an updated, best practices, policy is to protect vehicle owners, he said. In addition to protecting owners from long waits for the tow truck to arrive, the distance they have to go to retrieve their vehicles and how much they will have to pay for the towing and storage service, the city also has needs.
Pacific is a city of heavy tractor-trailer traffic, often moving oversized and extremely heavy loads. Towing companies serving Pacific have to have specialized equipment that can move big rigs.
An updated policy is an absolute necessity, Chief Melies said, to protect the owners of vehicles and assure fast, secure and adequate service to the city. Towing companies would have to apply to be placed on the ratation and sign a contract agreeing to Pacific’s policy.
“Once we have an application and approval procedure in place, we would welcome more tow companies,” he said. “Any company will be able to apply. And as long as they maintain the required standards the can stay on the rotation.”
Wasn’t this questioned several months to a year ago? Why has it taken Chief Melies so long to address this? And how long will it take him to get the policies, and rotation made? Let us know if he actually ever does anything on it please!
I don’t understand the mind set of this Police Chief. He has no problem wanting to put people in jail who are homeless or ticketing a property owner if a homeless person stays on there property where a tent has been erected but he now is concerned about how much money a tow truck operator will charge a citizen if the Police have to call them to move their car from a city street. This sounds like the Police Chief may be experiencing a Dr. Jekel & Mr. Hyde complex.
The owner should have a say as to where their vehicle is taken. If the owner wants it taken to their home that would solve the problem of a storage fee of any kind because it would be on the owners property so that they can decide what they want or need to do with it.
Under the previous two Police Chiefs, there was a rotation list, but tow companies come and go. As long as your vehicle was not blocking a major roadway or was a safety hazard, you were always allowed to call a private tow. Most tow companies are required to show you a list of charges before hooking up your vehicle. Yes, not every tow company has every piece of equipment to clear 18 Wheeler’s, but all businesses should have access to the more routine calls.
The present Chief has an arrogant attitude of ‘do it my way, because that’s what I want’.
Tow companies charge by the distance towed and by the fee schedule set by the county. So why not put local companies into the loop for Pacific residential towing , instead of one from Eureka, crossing the county line, which increases the distance a citizen has to pay for to call out such a towtruck?
Also, re having to call out extra large wreckers for tractor-trailers, 18,000 GW, etc., why go into St. Louis County at all? I-44 Towing and Hoffman Towing, both in St. Clair, have enormous wreckers for dealing with big stuff on the interstate. They are 15 minutes away, not that much longer in time, and are Franklin County businesses.
Spread the business around, Chief.
IHe needs to look into it. Big Boy changes less when they tow for St.louis County Police and for storage than they do if Pacific Police calls them.
Big boys towing is a rip off! They are way overpriced and, and their drivers are rude and unprofessional! Too bad the police depts only option as of now is a bunch of overpriced, rude, jerks!!