02-19-13 Wrecker Committee Meeting and Public Hearing minutes

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City of La Porte Wrecker Committee Minutes of February 19, 2013 Committee Members Present: Planning Director Tim Tietjens (designated representative of the City Manager), Lt. Gary Rice (designated representative of the Police Chief), and City Secretary Patrice Fogarty Staff Members Present: Assistant City Attorney Clark Askins, Chief Building Official Debbie Wilmore, Assistant City Secretary Sharon Harris 1. Call to order. Meeting called to order by Chairman Tim Tietjens at 3:05 p.m. 2. Roll call of members. Committee Members Tim Tietjens, Patrice Fogarty, and Lt. Gary Rice were present for roll call. 3. Consider approval of July 10, 2012, meeting minutes. Motion by Lt. Gary Rice to approve the Minutes of July 10, 2012. Second by Patrice Fogarty Motion carried unanimously. Chairman Tietjens recommended staff present a single staff report for the public hearings associated with Agenda Items 4 and 6, as the two matters are related. Motion by Patrice Fogarty to take the agenda out of order to conduct public hearings for both Items 4 and 6 simultaneously. Second by Chairman Tietjens. Motion carried unanimously. 4. Conduct public hearing to consider possible action to suspend, cancel, or revoke wrecker permits issued to La Porte Automotive, Inc. in accordance with the City of La Porte Code of Ordinances. A. Open public hearing Chairman Tietjens opened the public hearing at 3:08 p.m. B. Staff comments Lt. Gary Rice read a series of emails he received describing instances where La Porte Automotive would be dispatched for a tow and La Porte Towing would show up, and vice -versa. Lt. Rice also mentioned a problem with double billing by both companies for the same tow. The error was subsequently corrected. C. Public comments Bobby Slocum, 202 N. 11th Street, stated he was unaware there was a problem, but once he became aware, he addressed the offense with his employee.