Gainesville City Commission asks staff to bring back ordinance that eliminates roam towing

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the May 21 Gainesville City Commission meeting, Commissioners asked staff to bring back an ordinance that would eliminate roam towing and roam immobilization for at least a year.

On April 16, Commissioners approved motions to align the City’s towing and immobilization fees with Alachua County’s fees and bring back options that include eliminating roam towing and roam immobilization, along with an option to have limited roam towing, known as the Tallahassee option.

Today, GPD Major Jaime Kurnick presented two options: 

• Option 1: Total elimination of roam immobilization and roam towing, which would require direct authorization from a representative of the property owner to have a vehicle towed;
• Option 2: The Tallahassee option, which allows limited roam towing and roam immobilization between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. in large multifamily residential neighborhoods. 

Kurnick said multifamily residential property managers had said they preferred the Tallahassee option over eliminating roam towing, but they also like roam towing the way it is.

Mayor Harvey Ward: “My mind is not changeable about roam immobilization. I’ve just heard too many horror stories from people affected.”

Mayor Harvey Ward said his preference would be to eliminate roam immobilization but allow call-in immobilization, and he was willing to accept overnight roam towing. He said, “My mind is not changeable about roam immobilization. I’ve just heard too many horror stories from people affected.” He also wanted any motion to specify an annual review of towing and immobilization policies. 

Commissioner Casey Willits said he could be convinced to allow overnight roam towing.

Commissioner Bryan Eastman said property owners told him they prefer immobilizing vehicles because it’s less invasive, people are less angry, and it costs less to recover the car.

Commissioner Ed Book said he thinks immobilization functions as a deterrent, and he favored allowing property owners to do what works best for them from, choosing from “numerous mechanisms,” with “less government intrusiveness.” He also favored training and strict enforcement for the towing companies.

Public comment

During public comment, a representative of a towing company said immobilization is critical for parking enforcement in parking garages because there is no room to operate a tow truck. Also, modern vehicles cannot be safely towed without possession of the key. He said immobilization is “less invasive, more customer-friendly,” and eliminating it would likely increase threats of violence against towing companies.

A representative of a multifamily residential property association said residents pay for designated parking spaces and rely on having them available. He said, “Roam towing and immobilization are the primary tools that allow onsite management teams to uphold those contractual commitments without requiring 24-hour staffing or burdening residents with lengthy complaint processes.” He said it’s also a safety issue because a resident may have to walk a significant distance if their parking spot is occupied.

Eight people spoke about their bad experiences with roam towing or roam immobilization and called the practice “predatory.”

First motion

Willits made a motion to direct staff to bring back Option 1 as an ordinance, along with the other regulatory changes in the draft ordinance. Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut seconded the motion.

Objections to prohibiting registered sexual offenders and sexual predators from trespass towing

Eastman objected to a provision in the draft ordinance that prohibits drivers who have been “convicted of, found guilty of, or pled guilty or nolo contendere to, regardless of the adjudication of guilt, for any of the following: a. Any capital felony, any first degree felony, any felony sexual offense, any sexual offense that resulted in the requirement of registering with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, or any violent felony involving the use of a firearm or weapon, as defined in F.S. § 790.01, or which results in great bodily harm.” He said he didn’t want to add any new restrictions on “formerly incarcerated people and the job opportunities that they have.” Willits said he would “definitely be willing to strip that out.”

Commissioner Ed Book: “Someone who’s a felony sexual offender should not, in any way, shape, or form, be one-on-one with somebody… at night in a conflict-type position.”

Commissioner Ed Book said, “If you commit a felony sexual offense… — sorry, this is not one of the professions for you.” He said that interactions with tow truck drivers typically happen in the late hours of the night, and “someone who’s a felony sexual offender should not, in any way, shape, or form, be one-on-one with somebody… at night in a conflict-type position. I think we should keep it.”

Mayor Harvey Ward: “I don’t feel good about banning someone from those jobs, but I would feel worse allowing it if something happened.”

Ward reminded Commissioners that they were just directing staff to bring back an ordinance, which will have two readings, so changes can be made at those future meetings. Ward agreed with Book that “this is a unique circumstance that is a one-on-one experience, often in places where there’s not anybody else around, in the dark, often with young people, and I don’t feel good about banning someone from those jobs, but I would feel worse allowing it if something happened.”

Willits said that keeping Eastman’s request in the motion would “make it part of the larger conversation to hear from the community about.” He said he understood the danger, but he didn’t want to cut off jobs from “formerly incarcerated people.”

Kurnick said the provision is just for trespass towing; those individuals could still “do other towing opportunities.” She said the police department’s rotation tow list does not allow those individuals to tow cars for the department, and the policy mirrors Florida Highway Patrol’s policy.

Commissioner James Ingle said he was less concerned about sexual offenders driving tow trucks if roam towing is eliminated, because if someone calls for a tow truck, that person “has to walk out and sign a piece of paper… There’s a paper trail.”

Chestnut said, “We all believe in second chances, but I would leave it to staff… to spell that out for us” when they bring back the ordinance.

Commissioner Casey Willits: “We just can’t cut off every opportunity for employment,… unless, you know, you stole $10 million from the state of Florida; then you end up in all kinds of jobs.”

Willits said it’s a “sticky situation… [because] lots of different things get people on the [sexual offender] registry. Sexual battery,… in an ordinance, it’s not what people think or use in everyday parlance… We just can’t cut off every opportunity for employment,… unless, you know, you stole $10 million from the state of Florida; then you end up in all kinds of jobs.”

Commissioner Bryan Eastman: “Across the board, we should not be making it hard for formerly incarcerated people to find jobs and get back on their feet unless we have a very, very good reason to do that.”

Eastman said the existing ordinance is already “fairly strict… Pointing to something that we don’t have any control over, which is this database that is determined by the state of Florida related to sexual offenses… It is very broad… Florida has a very loose definition, looser than other states, as to what puts you in that database. I just don’t feel comfortable with it… Across the board, we should not be making it hard for formerly incarcerated people to find jobs and get back on their feet unless we have a very, very good reason to do that.”

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said she didn’t have a problem with roam towing, but she was interested in hearing from the towing companies about ways they would be willing to improve the customer’s experience. 

Book said the language about sexual offenders “is not at all vague. Florida State Statute Chapter 893 says exactly what a sexual offender or a sexual predator is. There’s nothing vague about it.” He said he thought the change was “very, very minor” to make sure that people “who have victimized people in really horrible ways in the past” can’t tow cars in one-on-one situations.

Ward said he preferred Option 2 but would vote for Option 1; he did not support removing the prohibition on sexual offenders. 

Eastman said it didn’t look like there were four votes for removing the prohibition on sexual offenders, but he added, “I think we need something more than just fear of what could potentially happen” to restrict the ability to have a job.

GPD Major Jaime Kurnick: “Through my experience with the state of Florida, offenders and predators aren’t labeled lightly; that is a strict restriction. And predators are very violent and usually have multiple victims. These are not individuals that have made one mistake.”

Kurnick said she would bring back some data and the full definitions for sexual offenders and sexual predators when the ordinance is brought to the Commission. She said, “Through my experience with the state of Florida, offenders and predators aren’t labeled lightly; that is a strict restriction. And predators are very violent and usually have multiple victims. These are not individuals that have made one mistake.”

Amended motion

Willits amended the motion to keep the restriction on sexual offenders.

The final motion was to direct staff to return with an ordinance outlined in Option 1, eliminating all roam towing and immobilization.

The motion passed 5-2, with Book and Duncan-Walker in dissent.

Second motion

Book made a motion to “direct staff to research and bring back a potential program of training related to the towing program, and assess and evaluate the ordinance in approximately one year.” There were multiple seconds.

The motion passed unanimously.

Towing and immobilization fees

The Commission then discussed a resolution setting the basic towing fee for all classes of vehicles at $160, storage per day (after 6 hours) at $30, and administrative and lien fees (after 48 hours) at $75. Immobilization fees would be capped at $65.

After some discussion about why $65 was selected and the costs to towing companies, Chestnut made a motion to change the immobilization fee to $80 and otherwise adopt the resolution. 

During public comment on the motion, a towing company representative said they couldn’t break even at $80 and asked for the County rate, which is $160; he reminded the Commission that their April 16 motion said they would mirror the County’s rates. 

The motion (with the immobilization fee set to $80) passed unanimously.