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Read comments (11)Those were the words of Shelbyville City Manager Ed Craig as he spoke about ending the 35-year practice of allowing a single business to handle all the towing and repair of city vehicles.
Shelbyville will bid out the contract instead of allowing Beech's Body Shop to continue to perform the towing service for free.
In December, tow operators complained that some of them were getting skipped over on the wrecker rotation schedule and the tows were given to Beech's, and Craig said it was a "serious issue" that the operators believe that the police were funneling business to Beech's.
"Beech's tows city vehicles for free," Craig said during the December study session. "It creates an image issue for us ... we should bid out that work."
Police Chief Austin Swing said at the time that city and police vehicles did get towed by Beech's "because they're fast and free."
The topic arose again Tuesday with Craig saying that longtime employees of the police and fire departments can not remember a time when Beech's did not perform the tow and repair services.
"That's not right. The city needs to follow the purchasing rules ... we're in the situation where 'that's the way we've always done it,'" Craig said. Other council members agreed that the longtime practice wasn't fair to other tow operators.
The wrecker service for the city would be bid out and the cars would be towed to either the department's facility or to public works, and not to a particular business. After the city's insurance adjuster gives his estimate, then the city would get at least three bids on the repair work.
Beech's had exclusively handled the repair work for decades after Shelbyville's insurance adjuster gave his estimate for the vehciles
Craig said that if the city was a private enterprise, the towing deal they had with Beech's would have been great.
One tow operator, Robert Bushnell, asked if what the city had been doing all these years was illegal. Craig replied it did not matter because the city was putting an end to the practice.
"It's over, it's not going to happen again," Craig stated.
I never said Beeches did anything illegal and am not bashing them! They can TOW FOR FREE all day and no it's not illegal, they are a private business and can offer a free tow if they want to. The CITY had the responsibility to DO IT RIGHT all these years. RIGHT as in following proper Purchasing procedures, rules, and laws. The city should have contracted the towing and repairs both. The repairs are questionable depending on the extent of damage however they could go with a flat hourly repair rate plus parts. Legal would be public record, anyone has the right to know what the low bid was HAD it been done right.
Had what been done legally??? Beech's did nothing Illegal. If they are called to tow a car then they tow it. If they are asked to fix a car then they fix it. If something is illegal then it was nothing that Beech's did. This story makes it sound like Beech's did something wrong which they didnt. If the city did then that is on them.
Sounds like someone needs to find out the truth before they open their mouth. Which seems to be a problem in this business. justthinkingoutloud
Had it been done legally there would be public records, are there?
Maybe it didn't post, I sure thought it did! My comment was basically the same thing Quality posted.
quality
That is exactly what I DID HAVE posted on here and it was deleted.
OK, Sooo if someone post a comment THAT IS STATING THE TRUTH it gets deleted! Interesting...
yes FREE is a bad thing if you break the law.so study up on what you talk about.by the way iam sure they got paid by the insurance company for the tows. BID RIGGING IS ILLEGAL
-- Posted by quality on Fri, Mar 7, 2008, at 1:23 PM
Sounds like someone needs to find out the truth before they open their mouth. Which seems to be a problem in this business. The tows that were done were FREE. So it doesn't pay to do a good dead for anyone so it seems. As for bidding the insurance jobs of fixing the wrecks that may be another matter which was not any fault of Beech's. They were asked to fix the cars and they did. If that was wrong then that was someone elses fault. There was no BIDRIGGING involved. They were asked to do a job and they did it and did it very well.
what the city has been doing is absoulty illegal. without a doubt.bid rigging is not legal in anyway shape or form. a company can not do anything for the goverment for free is the first issue.that is bid rigging.it is illegal.then you have the city not following purchasing law and procedures. which says they have to obtain 3 written estimates.and they have not at any time on towing city vehicles or the repairs to city vehicles.which again is illegal.so how many laws can your city break for 35 years and get away with them???and how many more have they you dont know about yet.stay tuned you will see more to come.yes FREE is a bad thing if you break the law.so study up on what you talk about.by the way iam sure they got paid by the insurance company for the tows. BID RIGGING IS ILLEGAL
So if you do a good job, your fast and your free then thats a bad thing???
Mr. Craig's defense doesn't hold water.
Let's say I failed to pay my City Property taxes. If I had the intent of paying my taxes NEXT year, would that make my failure to pay them THIS year OK ? I dont think the defense of "It's over, and it's not going to happen again your honor, I promise", would get me very far.
As a employee of the City of Shelbyville, I think Mr.Craig owes Mr.Bushnell and the rest of the legitimate business owners vying for a piece of that towing business a better response than that.
One tow operator, Robert Bushnell, asked if what the city had been doing all these years was illegal. Craig replied it did not matter because the city was putting an end to the practice.
Any time Purchasing laws are broken it's illegal. Depending on the dollar amt. obtaining only 3 bids for repair work could also be illegal. The repairs should be contracted as well as the towing!