Revised towing ordinance due for committee review
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - An amended towing ordinance is expected to be reintroduced at tonight's meeting of the Township Committee.

The ordinance was tabled following a public hearing on March 14 after the committee heard from tow truck operators who contract with Manalapan to provide towing services.

David Piatkowski, of Freehold Towing, said the amendment contained no provisions for fees that include special equipment.

He said motorcycles require the use of special equipment in order to be towed, as does the removal from the road of a horse, as he has been called on to do.

Piatkowski said he believed the towing ordinance should contain a provision for cost of living increases.

Manalapan police officer Robert Kelly, who helped to develop the ordinance amendment, acknowledged that Piatkowski was raising valid points that had not been previously considered.

"I welcome covering all the gray areas," Kelly said.

Township Attorney Caroline Casagrande agreed, saying, "We'll certainly take a look at that." The committee members took Casagrande's advice and tabled the ordinance pending further review and changes.

Donald Boyce, of Boyce Towing, Manalapan, suggested that another addition should be a standard accident form that can serve as a receipt and delineate the fee structure.

Boyce noted the nature of the business is that tow operators find themselves removing a vehicle whose operator has been taken to a hospital and therefore the opportunity to give the owner/operator a receipt for the vehicle does not present itself at the time of the accident.

He noted that many times a tow operator is left with a vehicle and the owner's name is unknown to him.

"We're the ones dealing with the public and the police. Better to refine it now and do it right the first time," he said.

One request Boyce made was dismissed by the committee.

Under the present system, the township contracts for towing services and provides the various operators with a time schedule which must be followed.

Boyce wanted a change to be made that would allow the operator who was scheduled to provide a tow to be able to call another operator if he was tied up and could not make the call. According to Boyce, this type of substitution is an accepted practice in neighboring municipalities.

Kelly vetoed that idea, noting that the Manalapan Police Department has done background checks on all personnel with whom the township contracts and would not want to deviate from the way things are done now.

"We need to keep that control," the officer said.

According to Casagrande, the original reason for the ordinance amendment was to tighten restrictions on vendors who provide towing services in Manalapan.

Casagrande said the police department had been involved in drawing up the amendments to the ordinance that included performance standards and insurance requirements.

Casagrande said standards for storage of any impounded vehicle had been the focus of the ordinance in order to ensure that anyone who tows a vehicle in Manalapan has been certified and that the public is guaranteed vendors with fees established by ordinance and storage conditions that are outlined in the ordinance.

"Drivers will be assured of fees that are reasonable and established and that their vehicles will be stored in a safe place," the attorney said.