CITY OF BRENHAM CONSIDERING GOING TO ONE NON-CONSENT TOWING VENDOR
The City of Brenham is evaluating the possibility of reducing to a single vendor for non-consent towing.
In a letter sent this month to Brenham’s non-consent towing vendors, City of Brenham Public Works Director Dane Rau said the city will be looking at issuing requests for proposals to potentially move to a single user for the non-consent tow program in 2024.
The city is currently on rotation with five towing companies to serve the city on non-consent tows, which include situations like when a vehicle is left behind in public right-of-way after an accident where the owner is transported to the hospital, or when the owner is detained after a traffic stop. The rotation involves the Brenham Police Department and emergency dispatchers, depending on the size of the vehicle needing to be towed.
Rau said the city is considering going this route in order to be “more efficient on the roadway as well as with all coordination.” He elaborated that this would allow the city and dispatch to monitor and work with one provider, rather than have to keep up with reports from five different companies. He added that the change would prevent confusion on rotation and assist in avoiding conflicts with multiple parties.
Rau told KWHI that, should the city choose to pursue this method, one vendor would conduct light duty (gross vehicle weight less than 10,000 pounds), medium duty (between 10,000 and 25,000 pounds) and heavy duty (over 25,000 pounds) non-consent tows inside Brenham city limits. For all other tows, the owner would choose the provider at their own discretion.
The letter stated that several cities in Texas have gone to a single user for non-consent towing, specifically mentioning College Station, Austin, Round Rock, Forney, Helotes, Leon Valley, Lubbock, Euless and Arlington.
Rau said in the letter that it is “not a guarantee” the city decides to move in this direction.
Claiming “efficiency on the roadway” with a single tow company is laughable. There aren’t any companies currently in the county that have enough trucks to handle the max volume of wrecker service calls the city can throw at it at one time. A driver with a vehicle totalled in an intersection may be stuck waiting for that one company while it currently has its resources devoted to the other car in the crash and a separate Brenham PD DWI arrest.
For this to work the company in question would need to sign in the contract a certain number of trucks will be available to the city’s needs at all times.
I think it’s been mentioned already, but this stinks of a public official trying to get their wallet lined by a company seeking preferential treatment in its government contracts.
I would also encourage the city to take a close look at the business it plans to go with. How do they run their business? Do they pay their bills on time? Does the company and owner have multiple liens, IRS liens, and federal judgments against them? Do they have proper insurance? Do the drivers even have the correct license to be operating the trucks and equipment used? This may not be the type of company the city should consider doing business with, as clearly they can not be trusted to be honest and dependable…
It would be interesting to see what major event has caused the City to even being to consider creating yet another business monopoly. Has there been an incident that the tow drivers got into fisticuffs on the side of the road because dispatch sent out the wrong company? Let’s face it folks, there are only five companies. It is not like planning the D-Day invasion. Five companies. Here is a simple solution that won’t knock out the other towing companies- put up a poster board with the names of the five companies and include a clothespin. When dispatch calls a company and send them out on a job-move the clothespin to the next company. That way Dispatch will know who to call next. If they do not answer-move the clothespin. If they answer, move the clothespin. The real question is: how many companies in Brenham that currently are in the rotation are able to handle all three types of tows? If none-then is the City going to be giving away a contract to a non-City/County resident? Let’s have some more answers than just a hollow and too often used phrase of “efficiency”
I agree with you. These companies have a lot invested in their equipment
trying to pay and make a living off their investments and to do that is just not fair to our local businesses and employees of those families. Mr. Rau should serious reconsider his uneducated motives for even thinking something on those who is to gain from this no one person should be in total control of setting limits on others livelihood one entity may have listed several different businesses names already to consume more of the rotation than others which also should be considered cheating in the rotation of other companies. This is WRONG
MORE favoritism ! If a tow company chooses to opt out of the non consent towing rotation that is perfectly fine by me-however, to just do away with 4! towing companies after a favorite is chosen is not FAIR! We have got to do away with this favoritism once and for all!!!
Is Brenham the size of any of the “comparable” cities absolutely not get off your high horse little man this town isn’t Lubbock Arlington College station or anything close to those sizes get a grip.
This sounds like a terrible idea pitched by a crooked towing company looking to provide kickbacks to a city official or two in exchange for their contract.
1. Why create a monopoly
2. What happens when the one towing company doesn’t have a truck available for the job?
3. What happens if the company you choose goes out of business?
4. Will the public get to vote on which company is awarded the contract?
What is it with this monopoly mentality around this county. The EMS waste disposal and now towing bad idea so don’t even float the idea Mr. Rau. Competition is what drives this nation and separates us from others. Suggest you get another dispatcher if its to difficult for them. This is such nonsense.
If the City chooses to move forward with this, isn’t the risk of putting most (if not all) of our local tow companies out-of-business exponentially high? Without the vendor contract, I would surmise that most of these local companies could not afford the overhead to keep a full-time tow driver around *in hopes* that someone would have an incident where their vehicle is rendered undriveable, then further *hope* that same someone would consensually choose them to tow said vehicle. There’s no guarantee that the contract would even go to a vendor locally. I imagine surrounding cities/towns/counties would be vying to get the vendor contract as well. The City talks a big game about “buying local”, but out of the other side of their mouth they do what they can to stifle and snuff out locally owned (and often decades-standing) companies.
How is a non-consent tow defined? Horrific accident where the driver cannot choose a company due to medical complications? Traffic stop with an arrest? A broken down out-of-towner with no knowledge of local companies? Abandoned cars? Dispatcher discretion? What are the statistics on the number of non-consent tows weekly, monthly, or yearly?
None of the cities listed are comparable to the infrastructure and size of Brenham. Don’t choose a sample-size or group that caters to your predetermined outcome.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they awarded the contract to BIG, who may soon announce a towing company expansion.
You mentioned “what are the statistics “? Government agencies don’t use them…like the County Air Ambulance Service…no one can say how many people died or their injuries became worse because they didn’t service quick enough? But they go ahead and throw us in debt because the court says it doesn’t matter how much it cost…lives are worth it. I don’t disagree but let’s apply a little knowledge and common sense to the issue.