Town to consider towing regulations

by Larry Austin
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, June 14, 2007

To keep motorists from being taken for a ride, the Town Board of the Town of Niagara will consider implementing townwide towing regulations.

At a work session last Thursday, the board discussed plans to call for a public hearing on July 17 at 7 p.m. to discuss the town’s oversight of tow truck companies.

“This was brought on by overcharging,” Town Supervisor Steve Richards said.

Town of Niagara Police Chief James Suitor explained that law enforcement tows, initiated by such issues as traffic accidents and suspended licenses, sometimes resulted in “complaints from people who believed that they received outrageous bills.” He said a series of tows last year at the then Prime Outlets Mall on Military Road, initiated by mall security, resulted in bills to car owners in the neighborhood of $300. Irate drivers then called police to complain, thinking the police had towed the cars and sent them the bill.

“They blamed the police department when, in fact, we weren’t aware any cars were towed,” Suitor said.

Richards said Buffalo, Niagara Falls and North Tonawanda have tow truck ordinances, adding that a lot of thought and hard work went into crafting the proposal.

The Niagara County Sheriff’s Department now chooses who is on the towing list. Richards said that to be on the Town of Niagara’s towing list, the towing company should be located in the town.

“We will always defer to the owner’s request,” Suitor added, however, when asked about those motorists who have service agreements with AAA or companies located outside town. “We will do our best to accommodate.” The TNPD requires a 15 minute time frame for the tow truck to respond to an accident, he noted.

“It’s been an issue, but it’s an issue that we have to address,” Suitor said.

On another matter, Town Engineer Robert Lannon updated the board on the Cayuga Creek flooding investigation. Flow meters placed in the creek will provide engineers with a “snapshot of data” to help the town prove, as Richards has said at recent public meetings, that the town is not flooding, but rather is being flooded. Lannon said the engineers are looking for three wet-weather events representing differing rainstorms to see how the creek level reacts.

Town Highway Superintendent Michael Moyer said town crews recently removed two large trees and a log from the creek. Months ago, the town had removed a stone bridge, resulting in a significant drop in the water level.

The highway department had to remove the bridge again after someone rebuilt it.

Moyer said he sent a letter to residents in the neighborhood of Tuscarora Road, Cayuga Village and the vicinity explaining that the town has no duty to perform the large cleanups of the creek, which is owned by the adjoining property owners. Anyone caught depositing brush or trash on a federally regulated waterway such as Cayuga Creek could be charged, he said.

“We found toolboxes, we found car parts, we found lawnmowers,” Moyer said of a recent inspection. “The trees that fall in, that’s one thing. The rock bridge, that’s another thing.”

Moyer said he’s looking for cooperation from local residents to keep the area from suffering from floods as has happened in the recent past.

Also at the meeting:

•Tuscarora Road bridge repairs will cause the closure of the road around July 1, Moyer said.

•The board will likely cancel one of its two monthly work sessions in both July and August. The board meets in regular session on the third Tuesday of the month and holds work sessions on the preceding two Thursdays.

•When it meets on June 19, the board will vote on a resolution to authorize Premier Pyrotechnics Inc. of Orchard Park to put on a fireworks display on July 2. Half of the $7,000 cost will come from the town, the other from the BFI Community Fund agreement. The Boys of Summer will be in concert that night as well.

•The board will consider a vote to pay $12,150.49 as partial dues to the Niagara Power Coalition.