Published: July 03, 2008 02:21 pm      

Towing policy defended

City hooks up to tackle parking issues

San Marcos — Nelson Center's parking lot manager defended his practices and those of Saucedo's Wrecker Company on Tuesday before the San Marcos City Council in a workshop meeting.

“The predatory towing you're talking about isn't predatory at all,” Charles Meeks said. “I contract with (Saucedo's) simply so my merchants can stay in business.”

The purpose of the meeting was two-fold; a discussion on non-consent towing like that practiced at Nelson Center, and possible raising of towing fees to keep in line with other area cities.

The meeting had been scheduled before a Bulverde businessman whose truck was towed while members of his party were inside Sundance Records last week. But the experience of Charles Cantu, who summoned not only police but a Chamber of Commerce representative and the press to the record store to complain, seemed much on the mind of some council members.

On a question from council member Kim Porterfield, Police Chief Howard Williams explained that if a vehicle owner arrives when the wrecker “has showed up but not hooked up” to an illegally parked vehicle, the vehicle owner can be charged $20. However, if “two tires are off the ground” already, the cost of avoiding a full tow amounts to $30.

Council member John Thomaides asked whether the city had any authority to regulate a practice that was “harmful to our overall business climate in a particular area,” whether it concerned towing or some other issue.

“Are we as a city allowed to make an ordinance?” Thomaides asked, to which City Attorney Michael Cosentino replied, “The council might be plowing some new ground here.”

According to Williams, there had been 3,368 instances during the past 12 months where police were notified of a non-consent tow, which is required by law if the vehicle is not retrieved from the storage yard within two hours.

During the same time period there were only 826 police-requested tows within the city limits. “The Texas Occupation Code gives us some authority to regulate fees but it gives us very little authority to change the law in how vehicles are towed from private property,” Williams said.

Meeks argued that because of Nelson Center’s proximity to the Texas State campus, and the fact that students are always looking for a close place to park, there’s “no other choice” than to tow.

“Parking problems downtown and in the university district are never going to go away,” Meeks said, adding that he’s made the same spiel to city councils for the past 18 years. “We only remove 10 or 15 out of every 100 vehicles that illegally park there,” he said.

Meeks also said the towing company “only removes 10 or 15 out of every 100 vehicles that illegally park there. I don't think we're predatory at all.”

Regarding fees, Williams pointed out that San Marcos’ fee structure is “considerably lower” than in other cities including Austin, San Antonio, Lockhart and Seguin.

“The fees were established in 2002 and have not been revisited since then. To be fair to the wrecker companies I feel we do need to revisit those fees,” Williams said.

The meeting ended without resolving either of the problems. Mayor Susan Narvaiz advised towing companies to meet with San Marcos police, then come back to the council for further consideration.