– March 23rd, 2021

A police towing reform bill that was introduced on March 1 and then subject to further review will allow more towing and roadside service companies to compete fairly and openly for police vehicle tows throughout seven of Akron, Ohio’s twelve districts. The reform bill will be voted on next week.

Up until this point police contracts have been split between a handful of tow companies at the exclusion of other tow companies. The legislation will immediately split two of the city’s seven towing districts to allow for two companies, Team Towing and Kinney’s Automotive, to begin getting work in those districts. By 2024, the bill will further open up those districts to other tow companies.

City councilwoman Tara Samples, who sponsored the bill, said, “We’ve still got some things to work with down the line. I’m a little concerned about (the city) giving Team Towing such a small portion of the district.”

Under the new plan, Bondurant’s Towing and Wilson’s Towing would lose a portion of their districts, potentially cutting in half the number of tows they currently perform.

Bondurant’s tow owner Greg Prunty complains “I bought all this equipment to take care of both districts. So now I gotta get rid of the equipment and lay people off because they’re helping her but they’re hurting me,” referring to Team Towing owner Carol Coleman-Crane, one of the few female business owners in the male-dominated towing industry.

Coleman-Crane, who has 30 employees, said she will not need to expand at all just to handle the projected 1 extra daily call, on average, that the reform bill will grant her company.

The proposal would allow Prunty and Wilson’s/Bower’s to keep operating more than one towing district until 2025 when no company, either through common ownership or a shared impound lot, can have more than one district.