Chapter 10.42
PRIVATE VEHICLE TOWING POLICY
Sections:
10.42.020 Qualifications for list placement.
10.42.030 Suspension or removal from list.
10.42.005 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases mean:
“Nonpreference tow” refers to towing services for private citizens who do not choose a specific business to tow a privately owned vehicle.
“Towing service operator” means a firm or individual qualified to provide towing services. (Ord. 913 § 1 (part), 1999)
10.42.010 List maintenance.
The city manager shall maintain, or cause to be maintained by contract, a list of all towing services operators which are now or will be qualified to tow privately owned vehicles at the request of the city, and to offer the work, or cause by contract to have the work offered, to those towing service operators in rotation, one tow per towing service operator. A towing service operator that refuses the offer or does not comply with its terms shall lose this place on the rotation and may be suspended or removed from the listing, as further provided in this chapter. (Ord. 913 § 1 (part), 1999)
10.42.020 Qualifications for list placement.
To be qualified to respond to the city’s request for towing of privately owned vehicles and be placed on the city’s nonpreference tow list, a towing service operator must meet the following minimum qualifications:
A. The towing service operator office and storage yard shall be located within the city limits, and reasonably secure against loss by theft or casualty. The office and yard each shall be legally and physically distinct from any other towing service operator office and storage yard, and shall be located not less than three hundred (300) feet from any other office, or yard, and shall not share the same tax lot with another towing service operator (as shown on the records of the Douglas County assessor), and shall employ no person employed by any other towing service operator in Douglas County.
B. The towing service operator at all times shall possess a current, valid state permit for towing and recovery. The towing service operator shall carry Workers’ Compensation Insurance in the form required by the state. The towing service operator shall carry liability insurance in amounts pursuant to applicable statutory tort limits. A firm doing business as a towing service operator under an assumed business name or as a partnership or corporation shall furnish the city evidence of registration of the business with the Oregon Corporation of the business with the Oregon Corporation Commissioner and the name of the agent for service of legal process for the business.
C. The towing service operator shall be on call twenty-four (24) hours a day, three hundred sixty-five (365) days per year for city-ordered tows. The towing service operator may impose a surcharge for retrieval of vehicles after regular business hours. The towing service operator shall respond to the location of the work in not more than twenty (20) minutes from the time of call by city to any locations within the city.
D. All vehicles used by the towing service operator shall be registered to the towing service operator or its owner and shall not be used by any other person or towing service operator. Each vehicle shall be prominently and permanently marked with the name, address and phone number of the towing service operator. If a person owns more than one towing service operation, only one of the towing service operations will be considered qualified for placement on the city’s nonpreference tow list. (Ord. 913 § 1 (part), 1999)
10.42.030 Suspension or removal from list.
A. If at any time, a towing service operator fails to meet the minimum qualifications of this chapter, or fails to comply with any requirement of this chapter or with any general ordinance of the city applicable to the towing service operator, such towing service operator shall be considered disqualified, and the city manager may suspend or remove such towing service operator from the nonpreference tow list.
B. In the event of such suspension or removal, the towing service operator shall be served with a written order stating the reasons therefor and the effective date thereof. A suspension or removal shall become effective immediately if personally served or forty-eight (48) hours after it has been deposited with the United States Postal Service for delivery by mail. (Ord. 913 § 1 (part), 1999)