Carlisle Borough Council this month voted to revamp its towing program.
The program will now allow qualified towing companies to be put into a rotation to cover towing needs in the borough on a rotating monthly basis, according to the borough’s finance director Richard Juday. Companies are considered qualified if they have proper insurances, towing capabilities and successfully fill out the applications.
The change in the program will allow the companies to participate in the program without needing to rebid each year, Juday said.
The company that is on the rotation for the month will be given the first opportunity to respond to a towing need from borough personnel or from the Carlisle Police Department. If that company is unavailable, the next company on the list will be called.
Towing companies are typically called when there are disabled vehicles in the roadway or vehicles are illegally parked.
Juday said the borough established a fee schedule that companies would have to agree with prior to applying to participate in the program. Those fees are charged to the customer for the towing service.
“Given that the borough does not pay the vendor directly, significant consideration was given into what was most fair for borough customers,” Juday said.
The changes came after the most recent round of bidding for the borough’s towing contract resulted in one successful bidder. Juday said a sole vendor was not the intent of the borough’s towing contracts and that having only one contracted vendor limits the borough’s ability to ensure consistent and fair pricing.
That’s because the borough may need to call on companies not contracted by the borough if the borough’s contracted towing service is unavailable.
Juday said the borough is working on an application for the program to put out to all towing companies in January.
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