City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, VICE -MAYOR, WARD ONE CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. GEORGE C. SOLLEY, WARD TWO HON. FREDERIC N. HOWE, III, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. BEATRICE R. PAOLUCCI, WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session August 14, 2012 Towing Ordinance Changes Discussion of the Council Retreat Process and Agenda The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, August 14, 2012, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Conference Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Bradford C. Ellis. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Frederic N. Howe, III, Matthew J. Kelly, Beatrice R. Paolucci, and Councilor-Elect Matthew J. Kelly. Council Absent. Councilor George C. Solley, out of town. Also Present. City Manager Beverly R. Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Police Chief David Nye, Officer Jamie Walker, Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Matthew Benka, representative for towing companies. Towing Ordinance Changes. Mayor Greenlaw noted that she would not be participating in the discussions or voting on the topic. City Attorney Dooley stated that Council had voted on the first reading of the towing ordinance, but there were still some issues that were unresolved. Those issues were the maximum fee for towing and storage, signage for the lots, and what happens if there is damage to a vehicle towed from a private lot. The maximum fee is authorized by local ordinance to be set and if the City does not set the rate, it would default to the States rate of $125.00 plus $25.00 for nights and $25.00 for weekends and holidays. The Towing Advisory Board recommended $125.00 flat rate with no add ons. Neighboring localities such as Spotsylvania did not adopt any type of maximum, but 1 Stafford County set a maximum of $100.00 and a $35 surcharge if the driver picks up on a night or weekend. Councilor Kelly said he was not ready to double the fines and he recommended $100 for tow and $30 storage. Councilor Howe felt there was no justification for the rate that was being proposed. He said the City square mileage is much less than that of the counties. He said the City needed to look at the fair market rate and he said it should be in a request for proposals and issued as a sampling and every two years it be reviewed again. City Attorney Dooley said it would be hard to get a fair market value for a service that the person paying for it didn’t really want and she said this is not the usual supply and demand. She said council had available the testimony of the towing companies and the detail of their cost increases over the past 9 years. She said it would be difficult to compare this towing service to others because they are all different. She said it would depend on the type of call to determine the charges. The charges could be between $60.00 and $150.00. The other comparison Ms. Dooley said was available was the comparison of the other localities and the State. Vice-Mayor Ellis said he would like to be as objective as possible with selecting a rate and he asked Mr. Benka what the average rate was for a tow. Mr. Benka stated that if the City went to a rate of $125 and $30 it would be going from the lowest rate in Virginia to by far the lowest rate in Virginia. Mr. Benka noted that towing in Fredericksburg is a loss for the towing companies and he said they should make some profit. He encouraged Council to bring the fee up to parity with everyone else. He said if the fee was increased to $125 and $50 the City would still be in the bottom five. Ms. Dooley noted that Officer Walker had provided average fees where he had called around to localities to find out the cost for a tow. Officer Walker said it averaged out to $130 per town and he also noted that the Towing Board did not arbitrarily suggest a fee it was thoroughly discussed and reviewed by the Board. He said he was familiar with what the surrounding counties do and charge. He said the city does not stand alone it stands with Stafford and Spotsylvania, and he says this because the average citizen cannot tell when they have left the City and entered one of the counties. He felt consistency was better for the public. He also explained that when Mr. Benka came to him about increasing fees he requested the same fees that were in the State Code, but he would not support that because 2 80% of the tows were occurring on nights, weekends and holidays. He said he did not want to give the towing companies a 200% increase. Councilor Howe stated that the towing industry could have addressed this issue in the past 9 years. He said the job of Council is to come up with a fair rate. He also addressed the improper signage in Eagle Village. He asked about the penalty for failure to report a tow. Councilor Dooley said the fee is $100 and she said she does address the signage in the ordinance. Chief of Police also has the ability to require a sign plan the is different from the ordinance if he feels the need to. Councilor Howe asked what the repercussions were for not having the proper signage. Mr. Benka stated that he supported all the language that Ms. Dooley presented in the ordinance and he said they will work with the police on the proper signage on the private properties. Councilor Howe was still concerned with how people would find their vehicles and Mr. Benka assured him that City laws says that the tower must report a tow to the Police Department or its not legal and they would not be able to charge for the tow. Officer Walker also stated that there has been 100% compliance on calling in tows. He also added that Chief Nye and Captain Richard Pennock have been keeping an eye on the Eagle Village parking lot. Chief Nye said the parking lot was in compliance with 10 signs. Officer Walker stated that it is in the benefit of the towing companies to make sure the signs are in the proper place or they cannot get the tow. Councilor Paolucci said she was concerned with doubling the fees and she asked why the towing companies hadn’t complained sooner. She felt the towing companies failed by not asking for an increase sooner. She also asked who determines the fine if a call is not made before a tow, because the ordinance says a fee of not more than $100. Ms. Dooley stated that the General District Court Judge would determine the fine. Councilor Paolucci added that she would like all the fees to be set and not determined. Councilor Devine asked whether there was staff at the storage lot during regular business hours. Officer Walker said there is someone staffing the office during the regular business hours. Vice-Mayor Ellis suggested placing a flat rate fine of $1500 in the ordinance instead of a fine up to $1500. Ms. Dooley noted that if you take away the Judges’ discretion and he feels the fine is excessive he will dismiss the charge. Officer Walker agreed and suggested leaving it in the ordinance as it is written. 3  City Attorney Dooley asked for Council’s opinions on the language in the ordinance on damages to a vehicle that are towed from a private lot and Council agreed with the language. She asked for Council’s opinion on the new wording for the signage and Council was in agreement with the language. Ms. Dooley asked about the fees for towing and storage. Councilor Paolucci suggested $100 for tow and $50 for storage. Councilor Howe said he was not comfortable with those fees and suggested $100 and $30. Councilor Devine said she could support $125 and $50. Councilor Ellis said he could support $100 and $30 or $100 and $50. Councilor Kelly supports $100 and $30 and he gave argument why he felt it should not be increased more, but he felt an increase was in order. Councilor Paolucci asked if Council could also discuss Section 58-456 the fee of no more than $100 for not reporting a tow. Mayor Greenlaw suggested getting a consensus on the towing and storage fee first. Mr. Benka suggested to Council a fee of $125 and $30. Councilor Howe added that because cost are higher to have staff working on weekends and holidays he asked if Council would entertain adding a $25 fee for weekend and holiday tows. Councilor Devine asked how many tows occur on holidays and weekends. Officer Walker said roughly 80% occur on weekends. Council agreed on $100 maximum rate for towing plus $30.00 storage fee and a $25 fee for holidays and weekend (Saturday and Sunday). Council Retreat Discussion. City Manager Cameron reviewed the four topics related to the upcoming Council Retreat: Retreat Purpose, Facilitator Introduction and role, Pre-retreat questionnaire and interviews and dates, times, and location. The purposes for the retreat is strategic goal setting, review and refine goals, prioritize goals, review, to add and delete initiatives, prioritize initiatives and determine the next steps. The Facilitator will be Martha Marshall, an experienced local government professional consultant. She worked for many years as a Senior Executive in Prince William County. She has consulted in numerous local government settings, including the Cities of Manassas, Williamsburg, Alexandria, Richmond and she is currently completing a management consultant assignment for the Country of Jordan. Mr. Cameron explained that there would be some pre-retreat homework and that he would be distributing a questionnaire for Council to review and complete. He also added that Ms. Marshall would like to meet with each Council member individually. 4  Mr. Cameron reminded Council that the retreat would be held Friday, October 19 and Saturday, October 20 at the Police Headquarters Training Room. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 6:43 p.m. Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 5