For the first time in four years, the city is making changes to its wrecker ordinance.
Companies on the city's list will now go on a two-week rotation instead of a month and fees have been increased across the board.
"A lot of the companies were saying that a month is just too long because some of them have other very large commitments to other customers and were having trouble meeting our guidelines," Mike Dale said.
The ordinance requires that they show up within 20 minutes of a call.
"They would have to call extra people in and that wasn't cost effective for them, so they asked us if we could look at some changes," Dale said.
The City Council was receptive to the changes it heard at Thursday's work session.
The city will also inspect each company when it gets to the top of the rotation, which will help the city be able to monitor companies more closely.
As for fees, a basic towing will now cost $75, up from $60 - a 25 percent increase. Accident towing went from $100 to $167 - the same fee the county charges.
The city has 12 companies it rotates for light towing and five for heavy jobs.
Only tows that are city related and use a list company will pay those fees. A motorist can still call their own wrecker service and pay that companies individual fee - some are more expensive and some less depending on the job.
"People do not have to call the city if they need a tow," Dale said. "We tell people they can use anyone they want. But a lot of these are also for abandonments and if we have to call one of our list people those will be the rates."
The council is expected to approve the new ordinace at its next regular meeting. The changes will take affect beginning in February of 2003.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/12/186649