Thomas MacMIllan Photo
As a result of what he calls an illegal city policy, Vin DiLauro has seen a drastic decline in towing business at Columbus Auto Body. He’s been forced to shave five hours off all his employees’ weekly schedules — just so he can break even.
DiLauro runs the family auto body shop on Columbus Avenue. He’s one of eight tow company operators who officially submitted a petition to the Board of Aldermen on Wednesday requesting a public hearing on two towing policies which were recently changed. They claim the changes amount to a violation of city ordinances. DiLauro said the new policies may cause his and other towing companies to go out of business.
The petition, drafted by attorney Robert Oliver, claims the city is illegally disregarding towing ordinances in two ways. First, lowering the amount towers can charge for certain tows violates an ordinance establishing towing fees. And second, contracting with only one company — Crown Towing — for the removal of all cars with overdue taxes violates an ordinance requiring the city to share the work among municipal towers.
Read the petition here. The matter is headed for the Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee.
Last fall, the city entered into an agreement with Crown that gave the company the exclusive contract to “boot” and tow all cars whose owners are behind in the car taxes or have over $200 in tickets. Previously, booting was performed by a company called VioAlert, and towing for overdue taxes was done by nine different tow companies, according to a standard rotation.
That rotation is still in place for all other types of tows, like street sweeping and accidents.
At the time of the change, city Controller Mark Pietrosimone said it was necessary in order to streamline towing procedures. Towing all cars to one lot would reduce police workload and make it easier for car owners to find their towed vehicles, Pietrosimone said. The system would increase accountability and decrease confusion, he argued.
DiLauro and his fellow tow operators argue that the rotation system previously in place was working just fine before the Crown contract.
“The Code of Ordinances established a carefully regulated system for municipal towing services which has worked well for decades and avoided scandal, politics and favoritism,” the petition states.
Section 29 – 118(d) of the Code of Ordinances requires the chief of police to rotate towing work through municipal towers “on a reasonably fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory basis.”
The city has ignored this regulation by contracting with Crown, the petition states. “Assignment to one tower alone violates the ordinance.”
The towers also object in their petition to allowing Crown to collect back taxes owed to the city: “Permitting a private company and its truck driver to collect the money – often quite sizeable sums — is manifestly unwise and carries the risk of loss or misappropriation of the moneys.” Not only is it risky, it also violates the law, the petition states.
Asked if the city’s contract with Crown is illegal, city spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said, “This service was RFP’d. In this process we followed appropriate protocol.”
Rate Change
The towers’ petition further objects to a recent change in towing rates enacted without aldermanic approval. The towers claim that the standard rate for towing cars from accidents has been $88. Recently, however, the city has changed the rate to $77.
According to the petition, the $88 fee is established in two documents, the “City of New Haven Municipal Tow Policy” and the “City Authorized Tow Fees” schedule. “If the tow rates are to be changed, that is for the Board of Alderman to legislate not for city bureaucrats to change,” the petition states.
“Their allegation is absurd,” said Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts.
The change in towing rates was the result of a review of towing ordinances last fall, which indicated that tows should be charged at $77, Smuts said. “It’s one of the most clear statements in the ordinances.”
The claim that the $88 is established in city regulations is “categorically a false statement,” Smuts said.
Business Takes A Hit
In a conversation in his office on Columbus Avenue, DiLauro laid out his grievances against the city. He started with complaints about the city’s process for creating its contract with Crown.
Last fall, when the city was considering moving to a single tow company for booting and tax towing, DiLauro put in a bid for the contract. He said at the time that he would have Columbus do the booting, but preserve the rotation list for towing.
After the city chose Crown, DiLauro was told his application had been incomplete. But in the meantime, the city had called in Crown and worked out all the details, including the collection of taxes by Crown employees.
In an email, city spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said that all members of the municipal towing list were invited to respond to the request for proposals (RFP). “Crown responded in a manner that was very comprehensive and met all the desired goals the City wanted to accomplish,” Mayorga said. “The other respondent did not provide a complete RFP response (Columbus Auto).”
“Why didn’t they call us in to tell us we didn’t fill out the application properly?” DiLauro asked.
“The administration is circumventing the Board of Aldermen,” he said. “The towing ordinance is pretty explicit.”
“The administration is all of a sudden trying to eliminate us,” he went on. “They gave everything to Crown.”
DiLauro said he and other towers sat down with city officials last fall and sent letters requesting that the rotation system be preserved, to no avail.
The disgruntled towers considered suing the city, DiLauro said. But they decided to call for a public hearing instead. “If the Board of Aldermen has an opportunity to hear this,” he said, “they will act in the proper and fair way.”
“The city’s got enough lawsuits, don’t they?” he said later.
As a result of the city towing new policies, Columbus has lost some 30 percent of its business, DiLauro said.
“The other day we didn’t get a [towing] call for over 24 hours,” he said.
Previously, Columbus would get at least one call during each of three daily shifts, DiLauro said. Since the changes last fall, he’s paying his employees more and more often to sit and wait for towing calls.
As a result, Columbus has had to do some belt-tightening. After a meeting with his staff six weeks ago, DiLauro asked all his employees to work an hour less each day. That change has allowed his business to continue to break even and avoid layoffs, DiLauro said.
DiLauro said he couldn’t fathom why the city had abandoned the rotation system. “I just don’t understand the reasoning behind it.”
Towing companies like his are now struggling to stay afloat, DiLauro said. That means jobs and taxes hang in the balance. “I know the city wants to keep businesses here.”
If things continue unchanged, Columbus will be forced to downsize or go out of business after 82 years, he said.
Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks, in whose ward several of the towers operate, voiced support for their petition.
“I would side with the towers, with the information I have,” she said. “It sounds pretty reasonable.”
Jackson-Brooks said the towers contacted her after their attempts to communicate with the administration were unsuccessful. She said she was told the chief of police had prepared a response, but that response has not appeared.