Area Towing

I dropped of a campaign sign to an old Navy buddy this week and his first question was where I stand on Area Towing. His grandson got hit with an $800+ bill for a simple tow after he had a blowout that took him off the road. Luckily he didn't spill anything that would require an environmental clean up. We joke about Taylor being a small town and everyone being connected and it seems that connection more and more is Area Towing. I had one of the seniors at church, that I would never had though was interested in city politics, come up and thank me for running, then go on a rant about Area Towing. Her grandson had an accident a block from her house and they wouldn't let AAA come and do the tow; he got hit with a huge bill as well.

I've done industrial services for most of my career, including managing almost $250,000 in municipal contracts with my last employer. I have never had or seen a contract where the customer didn't have the ability to cancel that contract. In this case it isn't Area Towing that is preventing the city from cancelling the contract, it's the City Council, or three members who don't think the bid process was "followed properly" so they are going to allow Area Towing to continue. They also don't like the way the City Charter directs we fill a vacant council seat, so with 6 council member those three have the ability to block any action against Area Towing. Since Area Towing is still a city vendor I would love to see a full audit of their billing; they have said that they will only allow the CFO to review the records at their facility. I would love to see him show up with forensic accountants; but that would cost money and the council would again be tied on any investigation of Area Towing. In November a new towing vendor will be selected and I guarantee there will be another lawsuit to block it. If I'm elected, as long as they are towing in the city, I will do everything in my power to audit their billing and force them to follow the contract to the letter.