Gainesville City Commission eliminates roam towing and roam booting, effective Jan. 2027

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the October 1 meeting, the Gainesville City Commission eliminated roam towing and roam booting within the city limits, effective January 1, 2027, and removed a rule that allowed pre-recorded comments to be submitted and then played at their meetings.

Removing the option of pre-recorded comments from the meeting rules

Recently, a group of parents of UF students looked up the City Commission’s rules for general public comment and submitted 18 pre-recorded comments; although the rule has been in effect since the fall of 2020, it had not previously been used. According to the Commission’s meeting rules, pre-recorded comments are to be played first, followed by in-person comment, “and then live call-in comment, if time permits.” However, Commissioners voted to waive their rules and moved the pre-recorded comments to the end of the meeting, with Mayor Harvey Ward telling Commissioners that a quorum was not necessary, so they could leave if they wanted to. Mayor Ward also asked for a motion to change the rules at a future meeting, and that motion was approved, leading to the October 1 resolution.

City Attorney Daniel Nee said the only two changes recommended by staff were to remove the options of pre-recorded comments and live call-in comments; although the City Commission voted to end live call-in comments in March 2022, they were still in the rules.

Ward said, “I would note to everyone that we have one of the more broad and broadly-available public comment policies across Florida and across the nation.” He referred to the early comment periods at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. and the general public comment period at 1 p.m., along with the opportunity for public comment on any agenda item that is not “administrative or ministerial.” He said the option for pre-recorded comments was added “during the pandemic when we were not able to meet as a group and where people didn’t always feel comfortable coming down here.” 

Ward said the option for pre-recorded comments had been used “exactly once,… [and] frankly, everybody had forgotten it existed. So this is a clean-up issue, not anything punitive.” He said people can always send emails to Commissioners if they can’t come to meetings in person. 

Commissioner Ed Book said, “Mr. Mayor, I like your characterization of ‘we are cleaning up language.’ We’re not attempting to remove transparency. I think that’s absolutely essential… We have many ways of engagement.”

Commissioner Bryan Eastman made a motion to remove pre-recorded comments and live call-in comments from the rules, along with cleaning up some provisions that expired in 2021 (page 5, line 33, through the end of page 6 in the draft resolution attached to the agenda). Commissioner Casey Willits seconded the motion, and it passed 4-0, with Commissioners Cynthia Chestnut, Desmon Duncan-Walker, and James Ingle absent.

Ending roam towing and roam booting

The next agenda item was the second reading of an updated towing ordinance. Gainesville Police Department Major Jaime Kurnick said that two changes had been made since the previous reading: an option was added for towing requests to be sent by email, and tow companies only need to submit reports about booting cars Monday through Friday.

The ordinance eliminates roam towing inside city limits; consolidates the towing, trespass towing, and trespass immobilization (boot) sections of the ordinance; and cleans up some language. It will take effect on January 1, 2027.

Instead of contracting with towing companies to roam parking lots and tow trespassing vehicles, the ordinance requires property owners to call a tow company if a vehicle is improperly parked on their property.

Willits made a motion to pass the ordinance on second reading, and Chestnut seconded the motion. The motion passed 5-0, with Duncan-Walker and Ingle absent. 

Commissioners previously voted on September 17 to collect complaints and data resulting from the ordinance for a year and revisit it in January 2028.

Updated schedule of fees is already in effect

The ordinance goes into effect on January 1, 2027, but the updated schedule of fees is already in effect as of June 1. If a vehicle is towed, the owner can be charged $160 for the tow and $30 per day for storage after the first six hours. The lien processing fee cannot be charged until after the vehicle has been there for 48 hours, and administrative and lien fees cannot exceed $75. According to information provided at the September 17 meeting, the ordinance also allows for gate fees and after-hours fees, which are $60 each. The maximum fee for immobilization is $80.