EVERETT — The Everett tow truck standoff of 2008 is over.
Five tow truck companies that pick up cars and trucks for the Everett Police Department are back on the job, following a six-week work stoppage.
Dick’s, Ron May, Hansen’s, Skip’s and American were all placed back on the city’s tow roster at midnight on Aug. 12, Everett Deputy Police Chief Greg Lineberry said.
Tow operators stopped taking calls from the city in June to protest Everett’s plan to sign an exclusive deal with Bothell-based Inter-County Towing.
The city’s proposed contract with Inter-County sought to establish a legal price cap for public tows. The Everett City Council in June approved starting negotiations, but a final contract was never signed by Mayor Ray Stephanson.
Tow rates were previously unregulated by the city and a hodgepodge of rates led some people to complain that they were being gouged.
In response, the city put a towing contract out to bid. Inter-County was the lowest bidder.
Tow operators, who sometimes haul junked and abandoned vehicles at a loss and provide an important service for the city, said they were being treated unfairly.
Instead of going with a single company, they argued the city should sit down at the negotiation table with all of the companies and hammer out a fair rate.
“Just reduce our rates,” said Veronica Riggs, a bookkeeper for American Towing. “Don’t cut our throats.”
American is one of the smallest tow companies in the city and gets most of its business from police calls.
It had to lay off a driver and was close to going out of business because of the loss of work, Riggs said.
“It even hurt the big guys,” said Jim Zelmer, president of Ron May Towing. “You don’t buy a tow truck business for millions of dollars if you don’t think you’re going to do police work.”
The companies argued that Inter-County Towing lacked the equipment and the manpower to handle all of the wrecked and abandoned vehicles in the city.
After refusing to take police calls, the companies said they received complaints from police officers about the time it took Inter-County to respond to calls.
They agreed to work under Washington State Patrol rates: currently $170 an hour for towing and $39 per day for storage.
Seattle, along with some other cities in the state and the Washington State Patrol, cap how much money companies can charge for public towing jobs. Everett needs about 2,000 vehicle tows every year.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
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