The Taylor City Council chambers is packed during the April 1 meeting, during which the city’s towing contract and proposed bid award was extensively debated.
Sam Hussein (left, at podium) and Louay Hussein (right, at podium) of J & T Crova Towing answer questions from Taylor City Council members during the body’s April 1 meeting.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR – Mayor Tim Woolley awarded the city’s emergency towing contract to J & T Crova Towing Enterprises on April 3, effective May 1, despite the City Council’s April 1 denial.
Council Chair Pro Tem Jill Brandana said April 4 that she was not sure how it could be arbitrarily overturned by the administration since it came before the council for a vote.
She said she will be glad when the entire situation is over.
During a long, contentious meeting, the City Council failed to award a towing contract to a vendor, despite extensive discussion and input from attendees, who packed the chambers.
The council voted 3-3 to award the towing contract to J & T Crova Towing, with the motion failing. Councilmembers Angie Winton, Doug Geiss and Charley Johnson were in favor, with Brandana, Lindsey Rose and Tina Daniels opposed.
A vote was then taken to consider renewing the towing contract with its existing vendor, Area Towing, which was defeated 6-0.
In a press release April 3, Woolley said he elected to proceed with Crova based on the proposals submitted by nine vendors and by the support of Taylor residents in attendance at the council meeting.
“The administration firmly believes it is in the best interest of the city of Taylor to proceed to utilize a new towing company to provide the emergency towing services,” he said.
Woolley said that Crova had excellent references from the cities it serves, which include several Downriver and western Wayne County communities.
Area Towing, Taylor’s current vendor, has been the focus of controversy as people who have been subjected to the company’s services have alleged excessive fees for towing, environmental clean-up and other services, sharing the information at council meetings. Some people have lost vehicles to them when the charges, which were thousands of dollars, exceeded the value of the vehicle towed.
Brandana said she was not willing to award the towing contract to J & T Crova based on her research into the company’s past practices with neighboring communities. She also said that Corporate Counsel Ed Plato strongly advised that she not publicly ask some of the questions she wanted the company’s representatives to address.
Despite extensive discussion and debate during its April 1 meeting, the Taylor City Council did not agree upon a company to award the city’s towing contract.
Louay and Sam Hussein of J & T Crova were at the meeting to answer council members’ questions.
Louay Hussein said he was upset to see people outside of the Taylor city hall carry signs that read “Say no to lying Louey,” which also misspelled his first name.
Sam Hussein reminded the council that the contract for their services would be “at will,” and could be ended if the council was not satisfied with the services they provide, and reiterated that the city “was ready for a change.”
Woolley said at the meeting that he was confident that the towing contract should be awarded to J & T Crova Towing, and said the city’s police department leadership concurred.
It was speculated that Area Towing strategically uses litigation to keep municipal towing contracts from being terminated.
Winton said Area Towing was holding the city hostage for towing coverage.
The council could revisit the towing contract issue at its April 15 meeting.
When asked after the April 1 meeting if the city had a towing vendor to respond to calls in the interim, Woolley and Police Chief John Blair said they were uncertain of the towing provider status and would have to investigate the ramifications of the council’s votes more thoroughly from a legal perspective.