10th City of Twalton uh council work session.

Uh we start up the session tonight with uh private property impound rates discussion uh led by Don Hudson, our finance director, and William Sullivan, who were is a management analyst here in the city.

Welcome to you both.

Thank you, Mayor Bubinick, members of the council.

My name is Don Hudson.

I'm the assistant city manager and finance director here with the city, and with me this evening is our management analyst in finance, William Sullivan.

So back in October of 2013, council adopted TMC 8-5, towing from private property, which requires tow companies to get a license to be able to tow off a private property and follow certain rules.

Uh in addition, there are maximum rates that they can charge the vehicle owners for any vehicles that are towed.

Those rates have not been updated since the ordinance went into effect in 2013.

Back this last summer, we received a letter from Beaverton Towing asking to review the rates because they have not been changed.

That letter is attached for your review.

Back on September 8th, we met in work session presenting this information to you.

And at that point, you directed staff to go back, do some research of what neighboring cities and other local uh municipalities in our area were charging and regulating for private property tows.

Uh after that meeting, I received a letter from Protow, which I've also attached to your staff report this evening.

William conducted the research that you asked for, so I'm gonna turn it over to him to summarize the information he found out.

Thank you.

Uh Assistant City Manager Finance Director Don Hudson.

Uh, and good evening, council.

It's great to be with you this evening.

Um so uh as mentioned, I got to do some of the research around private property uh impoundment, uh, which we're gonna talk a little bit more about this evening.

Um so I went ahead and reviewed uh municipal codes of several uh neighboring and comparator cities, um, which showed that most cities do not regulate private property impoundment uh in the ways that Tualeton does.

Uh however, Tweleton is not alone in that.

So before I go any further, I just want to uh remind council of of I keep using this uh term private property impoundment.

So this refers to uh tows that are uh ordered by a private uh entity, generally uh maybe something like a parking garage owner, manager, um, or a parking lot uh owner um towing uh private vehicles from their property.

Um so we reviewed uh 11 neighboring and uh neighboring and comparator cities uh and found that they do not regulate private uh parking impoundment fees.

Uh those include cities like Tiger, Beaverton, and Lake Oswego, um, as well as several others, and you'll find those in table two of the staff report.

Um however, as I mentioned, um well, most cities do not regulate private private property impoundment.

Uh Tualton is one of four that do.

So the other three that do are the city of cities of Portland, of Gresham, and of Fairview.

Um, and you'll find information on their rates there in table one.

Um, and I'll take a moment just to orient uh folks that table uh briefly.

So uh if you want to take a look at table one there, um you'll notice that the types of fees that are charged uh are listed in the leftmost column.

Um those fees include hookup fees, which include dispatch and labor involved in hooking up a vehicle to a tow truck, uh involves towed mileage fees covering transportation of a towed vehicle to a tow lot, uh lien filing fees, which are generally charged after a vehicle has been stored by a towing company for five days or more, uh release at scenes or drop fees, some jurisdictions call them drop fees, uh, and those cover fees if a uh vehicle has been hooked up, um, but the towing didn't actually begin.

Uh storage fees covering the tow company's costs to store the vehicle, um, as well as additional fees, which for the city of Tualton uh includes an after hours release fee uh for vehicles released outside of business hours.

Uh you'll also note there that uh you'll see some fees are divided by class.

That uh is based upon the gross uh vehicle weight uh of the vehicle being towed.

Most vehicles fall in class A, so that's up to 10,000 pounds in gross vehicle weight.

Um Class B is 10 to 20,000, and class C is 20,000 and above.

Um as you look at table one, uh you'll notice we have Portland, Gresham, Fairview, and Twalaton moving left to right, and the truth the rates that are proposed by Beaverton towing uh on the far right there.

Um so that's what we have for the council.

Um I want to see if the council has any questions or follow-ups.

Okay, questions.

Council President Pratt.

Um I want to understand why um there's only this four cities that impose these rates.

What's the the logic behind imposing these rates as opposed to all the other cities that don't to start?

I I think we'd we'd have to bring some further research back to council on that.

Um but I can't say other cities have more to do with parking um where they might have a parking division, whereas we rely more on uh private private.

I was on council when we did this.

It was to protect the residents of Twalton from being gouged on PPI tows, which are private property tows.

Those cities that don't have regulations, the towers decide what the rates are.

And it's the wild wild west.

Whereas we get when you have this at least is our fee schedule, and that's the reason behind it.

Council Ray.

Um getting any do we charge them for doing anything here in our community or any fees like that?

Like um are we charging these tool companies to do service for business here?

Sure.

Uh so towing companies pay for their business licenses, um, but beyond that, all the fees that are paid are paid by the vehicle owner to the towing company uh and don't come straight to the city.

The the way the I used to do this for City of Portland.

So it's say you're an apartment building owner, you contract with a towing company to tell those vehicles at a park, you know, at your apartment complex illegally.

So it's basically an agreement between the property owner and the towing company.

Are any of these cities getting any kind of fees for doing business there besides the license like extra fees for driving on the roads or anything like that?

We know that we just more.

Yeah, the the only example I found, Council Reez is in Portland.

There's a city service fee uh that's charged.

That's the only fee I have on this schedule that's charged uh directly and then uh goes to the city as opposed to to a private towing company.

Other questions or discussion?

Discussion.

Yep.

So when I look at this, it looks like we're kind I mean it's kind of amazing these rates were set that long ago, and they're kind of in the middle of what the other cities are charging.

Um then what Beaverton Towing is proposing seems a little out of range of that to me.

But is there a way to I mean personally I think they're fine where they're at, they're right in the middle, but is there a way like I get that costs go up?

Is there a way to like inflation adjust these or just allow them to come back in the future, I guess.

I mean I they should they have a right to you know run a business, but I don't think we we need to be you know allowing much higher fees than everybody else either.

There's nothing in the ordinance that at this point that allows for any kind of adjustments except for you directing staff to bring forward an ordinance with changes.

Okay.

Uh so if you wanted to do either some kind of indexing or to make any changes, that's the direction we're looking for this evening, and we would come back with the those changes, but there's not anything in the ordinance to do that right now.

Okay.

So I'd be interested.

Take your words.

Council Sacco.

I have a couple questions.

Um Tualeton, and this is one of how many?

10.

Uh we've talked about it.

And so it's one out of ten, and this is the only company that has brought this forward.

Um with just one letter of support from project.

Okay.

Um I mean, I think that I mean it's been over 10 years since a rate adjustment, so I think that there might be it looks just by these numbers that there could be adjustments for some of these categories, maybe not all the categories.

Um, but I am in I mean, I guess I'm in support in keeping the regulation that was put in place um for those reasons to um protect any price gouging.

Um there could be some adjustments here again without you know any adjustment since 2013 seems that it might be time to take a look at it and make some adjustments.

Council Ray.

Yeah, I my this is me.

Um that there could be some adjustments here um again without you know any adjustment since 2013 seems that it might be time to take a look at it and make some adjustments council Ray's Yeah I my this is me just um I think that even if it was twenty thirteen one 175,000 175 dollars back then it seems reasonable what it is now and I feel like um I've seen um some abuse that this can lead towards um I mean I was I went through every single line item and it's just the pricing just jumps really really high.

It's not like you're you're not talking about five percent or like three percent or ten percent is like tri double at times or even double plus you know so it's like I think it's uh it's it's still very fair to this day the prices that they were set in 2013 I also would like to protect those workers or f families that are struggling if they so um I I I think I'm not well I'm not in favor of doing this to be honest others Council Gonzalez so good uh Council Ray thank you for that that's a very good point.

Um so ten years ago these would have been very exorbitant because these seem very reasonable right now.

Uh when I compare it against Portland, which Portland is very fee happy with anything they can do, and they're only charging 196 for a class A.

And we're 175 and then the and it goes up from the right I this is very reasonable plus being only it's only one company.

One company is asking for this.

Um I think it's gonna be a no for me.

I don't want to yet but I'm not gonna support any increases at this time.

They can revisit with us at a different time Council Hillinger.

So I think a lot of times people post prices and have prices to try to encourage a behavior or you know encourage people to not do a behavior or do a behavior, right?

Like so um I 175 dollars today is still a lot of money in my in my pocket so um I d I can understand why maybe some of the bigger classes of bigger vehicles we may want to consider but I would not uh be in favor of changing anything for the class A or even uh very minimal class B if we decided to move forward with something because I I do understand wanting to run a business but I also think that and and I think the balance of a price has to be to encourage or discourage a behavior and so I I do appreciate that.

Um but I also don't want our residents and business owners to be gouged by you know a fee because it would be set for every towing company not just the one right it would be our ordinance so thanks others um I agree with most of the the majority of the sentiment um that we've heard this tonight I mean asking for rates that are above what the city of Portland is forget it in no way and maybe focusing on class A tows your your passenger vehicles maybe a minor increase but nothing substantial as Councilor Gonzalez said we're pretty close to what they're getting for city of Portland right now.

A few bucks maybe but to what they're requesting no way.

It's way too much they're requesting pretty much above what Portland pays.

And that's that's a that's a definite no for me.

So if they want to come back adjust these requests keep it in line we're saying tonight about class A's um staying pretty where they're at understanding that the be bigger vehicles probably do cost more but I'm inclined to say just leave what it is right now once they come back and maybe have a few extra towers that they can all agree on a a price that is fair but I don't want to raise towing fees for people because I know when people get their uh a private impound tow it's never just 250 the the fees everything rack up and sometimes you're into it for 500 bucks to get your car back because you park illegally at a planned pantry and uh folks uh it makes people I rate and so I want to make sure these rates are as fair as possible for both our the towers and for our residents without them being gouged so what do you need from us further than that well what we'll do is we'll reach back out to Beaverton towing and let them know the discussion this evening and let them know if they would like to put forward a more reasonable request in the words of the council that we'll be more than happy to bring that back.

Okay.

Is that the consensus?

Because I I I would like to say it's just it's not a no.

Okay.

Are we the voting that we're gonna allow them at round two to come back to us, take more staff time and all this stuff when I don't think none of us have everything uh appetite for this kind of issues at this time.

So can I get clarity on that?

Uh I'm a no completely no.

I think that I think it's fair.

Um the inflation and all that, but also people are experiencing layoffs and there's a lot going on right now that I I mean people have not received their income in a little while, so I I will say no.

So that's um I think I'm I might be somewhere in the middle um where I mean if we just say a flat out no, we might get um additional folks.

These people might go back um and get additional companies to back them and come back.

Um I I would be more inclined to look at the schedule that was provided and make some adjustments based on where we where we look at where we are, you know, maybe there's a bigger gap between where we are compared to some other cities.

Again, yeah, I'm probably not touching class A because it seems like we're pretty close there.

Um but I don't know that just allowing them sort of an open slate to say come back with a different proposal, but maybe this is where we'll meet you, this is what we're willing to do at this time.

And that might alleviate some uh the back and forth.

I guess I'm close to where Councillor Sacco's at.

I um but I I'm more like I want justification.

I mean we're right in the middle range here, so I want justification if it's a class C or whatever of what their cost are and why you know we should consider it, not just because they asked Councillor Hillier.

I also think that um we haven't heard from the people who are calling the tow companies.

Are they having people not come out and tow for them because of the prices?

I mean, is there an issue for our business owners?

I I haven't heard from any of them, so I I don't know that that is a problem.

So if if nine of the ten want to continue doing business in Twalton for this rate, or if we looked at class B and C and maybe even considered, you know, uh a partial bump like towards you know, Gresham, for instance, and not even that high maybe for B or C, but consider something.

I mean, I can see that, but I I just don't know that we've heard from our businesses that it's a problem to get cars towed, so I don't know why we would make any changes.

So maybe there's some information that we just don't know, or I don't know.

So that would be a gap for me.

Okay.

Excuse me.

So I got two definite no's so it may be something if you can consolidate the message in that you've got you know several members of council, it's gonna be hell no, no matter what you send to us.

But we're listening, we're willing to listen to minor increases, but with justification of those increases and only on the heavier vehicles.

And if they want to go through all that, then it's up to them to roll the dice and come back and see if we're amenable.

And I would like to hear from the businesses too.

So if you can collect data from businesses.

I mean, you can see the tow, you see the towing signs around town, so you know who's who's using who, and maybe you contact uh a couple of of the apartment complexes and the bar owners who might be using them and say, are you having a tough time getting a tow?

And if not, then like you're saying it's it's probably not an issue.

Uh oh so just I again we don't want you to spend a lot of time on this.

I mean this is well we already have spent time on this.

And uh I so I guess I just want to make sure that the majority of the council wants us to go do a survey of businesses, number one.

Number two, like do you want I I hear not a lack of clarity.

I hear a lack of clarity about uh whether we require the tow companies to come forward or whether we look at the the rates and propose something that is that bring forward something that is more in line with the others, or if it's leave it alone and maybe revisit it in a yeah.

I well no, I don't want you coming back with a new proposal.

I don't think it's on us to deal with this any further.

I am really interested in what Councilor Hillier said though because if it's if it's and I know there's an issue with towing those RVs and I don't know how this fits into all this because that's a whole different ball game.

And that is expensive for the towing companies from what I understand but they also charge too that's through our police contract.

Oh okay.

So that's a different issue.

That's a different issue this um it is I I think that's an important i I'm torn because I don't want you spending a lot of staff time but then that's like an important piece of information.

Can you I'm sorry what what important piece of permission you're looking for if if the companies in town are ha or the businesses in town are having trouble getting a towing company to come out when they need it.

I I don't think we've ever heard of a problem ever in if we have 10 companies it kind of creates a little bit of a competitive environment we have one company asking for an increase I I'm willing to kick this down on the road for another four years but okay but I'll go I'll go a year and we can we visit it but yeah I I don't know if my understanding and I don't know if this is for fact but my understanding is that most property owners have a contract or an agreement with a particular tow company.

So it's not that they're calling upwards of of many and trying to find one that that could occur but in order to have that agreement to be able to tow off private property you have to have company has to have a license within 20 and we have 10 companies that have current licenses.

Where they're towing from and how many I that I don't have information because we we don't get that and we don't keep that information.

I'm okay with um citing with the no on this if it's going to if we're not all in consensus um because I think that there's a higher priorities and also that unless it's causing major issues then and we can't you know maybe all agree on a path forward right now that then it's not um not going to be a priority and I'm okay with changing my um outlook to not at this time yeah did all I mean if we're not hearing for businesses to me there isn't a problem I guess is what I how I probably should have phrased it.

I don't we if if the businesses start coming to us because they can't get contracts then I think we have a discussion whenever that is if it's one year or two years or whatever it is.

So I'm good with that too.

Okay.

What we said before rip up and leave it be.

Sounds good thank you for that thanks for the research though it was very helpful.

All right.

All right so that took way shorter than we thought which is nice.

So that brings us to a gender review city manager's report and round table.

Uh tonight I've got counselor Sacco is up for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Councilman Gonzalez has asked to do the uh small business Saturday proclamation and I gave that to him and there's no other proclamations so we'll go ahead and we'll do we'll start off with the city manager's report and then uh jump over to round table and we'll start with Councillor Gonzalez once the city manager's done wonderful well um I missed the last meeting so thanks to Dawn for uh covering for me I really appreciate it.

I was attending the annual International City Managers Conference which was in Tampa.

It's always a an important time for me and to um get together with colleagues from around the world.

I a couple of highlights I just wanted to call out I went to the session called 13 ways to kill your community and it's based on a book by that name and the author is from Canada but he's done a lot of work in the U.S.

And the 13 things that he listed I was I as I sat there and listened to him I I was thinking of how proud I am of toileton and a couple that um came to mind I I I'm happy to send all thirteen to you but one was um forget the quality forget the water quality and quantity and uh he brought up uh Flint Michigan and um and um other places that where you forget that water is really the most important thing that a city provides right if you don't have water quantity and quality like you don't have business you don't have economic development you don't you can't flush your toilets and so I I take great pride in you know our water contract with Portland but also like how we run the water and the you approving the water master plan and how much we pay attention to the water here.

Um don't attract business, and I think that um Tualaton has been you know just hiring Sid and over the years uh our economic development program and um the businesses that we've attracted here in Tualeton.

I just felt really proud about and don't engage the youth.

And I feel really proud about you know our YAC and the student members on committees and the the ways that we engage our youth.

And so um just wanted to highlight that session.

Another session that I went to um well, a keynote was Arthur Brooks.

He's uh a columnist and author.

Um, and he wrote this book, Love Your Enemies, How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt.

And he made this compelling case that local government is where it's at, and that we can impact the the dialogue and the civility, and um that it takes um warm-heartedness uh on both sides on all sides.

And I was just I um I came away very inspired by his talk and um happy to send you his TED talk because it it was it was very compelling.

Um so aside from that, we had an election on Tuesday, of course, and uh thank you to the Twalton voters.

Um the library in particular is a beneficiary of that vote with passage of the library levy, um, but also the public safety levy passed as well.

Um we're in the final stages of hiring a planning manager.

Um Akula's excited about that.

Uh and that's been a bit a big hole since she came on board, and uh, we're excited to bring somebody good on.

Veterans Day is tomorrow.

Um city offices are closed.

The library is open, but it closes early at 6.

Um thank you to all the veterans for their service.

Uh the River Park CIO uh community involvement organization annual meeting is this Thursday at 6.30 here in this room.

And then on Saturday, uh we have yard debris drop-off at Grimm's from 9 a.m.

to 1 p.m.

You need to show proof of residence um in Tualaton and bring canned goods on our if you have any question on our website.

Um we show what the Twilight and Food Pantry is looking most for.

So uh we always end up collecting um quite the hall for Twilight and Food Pantry.

So thank you for the allowing me to make that update.

On the council did so, I attended the Metro Mixture for Westland.

That was a lot of fun.

I might have already talked about that, but uh also attended the uh the state of the county over in Clankabus County at Clackham's community college.

That was quite fascinating to see all the progress that the county is working on and the things they're looking to do.

It was nice to hear that they were pursuing donating uh money because of the snaps.

They did that, which was fantastic.

Um very good outlook for the state of the county right now.

It's pretty amazing what they got going on and how they want to work with the cities and things like that.

So was very excited to attend that.

Um the Veterans Breakfast, that was just amazing.

I love the stories that were told.

It's just so inspiring.

Um I was sitting with a gentleman who, after listening to our veterans' breakfast, he asked if he can donate money to the city.

So you might find somebody coming in here to try to donate money.

I don't even I couldn't tell him where to go.

I just say you come to the city, talk to Cheryl, and she can put you plugged in on where the money is needed.

But he he was um make a sizable donation, so he was very he almost was tearful when he was sharing this to me.

Um so that was very nice.

Um that's all I got.

Thank you.

Um the 28th, um was it the 28th, 28th, I believe, um, we had the um the CAC meeting, um, and we reviewed um um Michelle with um Savillis' uh presentation and um her findings, and which she will bring them here on the 8th um of December.

Uh so excited for everybody to see the results of that presentation um and all of the community's input um consolidated um into the findings, uh, which was uh really exciting to see.

Um we started prioritization.

I think we have some more work to do there.

Um, but uh I'm really excited for everybody to see that work.

Um that's the only meeting that I have.

Thank you.

Council Hillier.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I did not have any formal meetings, but I did attend the League of Oregon Cities municipal uh fundamentals training, the four and a half hour training.

It was I always learned something, it's kind of incredible.

But public meetings, I did those sorts of things.

I also um attended the Veterans Breakfast, which was wonderful, and enjoyed the Art in the Burbs event that the foundation for Tiger Twalton Schools put on uh that funds the art programs and all what 17 of our schools.

So that was fun.

Thank you.

Council Reyes.

No formal meetings, thank you.

Uh I was on vacation for two weeks, so my meetings were very small, thankfully, there was a nice break.

Uh but one meeting they had was the Metro Mayor's Consortium on the 30th.

I skipped Council Pratt.

I'm sorry.

I just felt a poke, and like, oh yeah.

Go ahead, finish up.

No, you go ahead.

Are you sure?

Sure.

Well, I thought you could go first since we do some repeat meetings.

Yeah, probably say the same thing, Jeff.

Yeah.

Okay, let me see.

Okay, so I went to um on the 29th, I went to the Metro Regional Partners Workshop on garbage and recycling fees, and um I know it probably is in my wheelhouse, but it was really pretty fascinating.

And what was really cool is that somebody from Metro mentioned when um we argued with Republic and how you know about their fees and that and part of it was they brought in um a CPA that specializes in this area and just saying to really look into what they're charging, like even the admin fees, you know, like um they run things through for foreign contracts and other things, so you have to really like dig in was the suggestion, but then they also explained like how a lot of like their tipping fees because the wages they pay, and then this one shocked me.

A new um electric vehicle garbage truck, 1.2 million dollars, and a non-electric and you know, only you know, 750, 800,000.

So there are some legitimate costs, but it was just really interesting to learn more of the details and the processes.

That same day I went to um Metro creating our shared future forum, which is um it it was a lot of we did a group thing, and we had some really good speakers, but then it was a group thing, and that whole idea was you know, if you work together collaboratively, you can have a bigger voice was the gist of it.

Then um, we had our um the um community action committee meeting with Michelle, like counselor Sacco said, and so um I'm excited that everybody's gonna get to hear that report fairly soon.

Um then they went to uh CCIO meeting uh with the CCIO, so the central committee, and it it would they brought in the two attorney generals from you know, DA, sorry.

The DAs from Washington County and from Clackamas County, Wentworth, and um they talked about retail theft.

I think it was really informative, and that the big thing that I got out of it was that um these retail establishments, you know, it's it sometimes it doesn't seem cost effective to report people, but if they don't report people, the police they don't have that data point to know what's happening, and then you're not tracking the people that are doing this over and over.

And the other thing was that some of them buy these proprietary software cameras, and you can only watch it on their system.

So the police are sitting there with the phone trying to record, which isn't good evidence for court.

So it was really pretty interesting.

Um then I went to the um um event at Central Cultural out in Cornelius, and it was an emergency meeting on the ICE activities, and there were some pretty um disturbing testimony.

Um what I got out of it is that well, half of the ice arrests that have happened in the states happen have happened in Washington County.

It's important if you can to film evidence and um that people that might end up in this situation.

Um try to make sure that you have at least two or three other people in your community that know facts about you, like your date of birth, your address, and your family members, so you know you can be located and connected with your family, and then um the last was they gave a couple the ACLU and ECO, which I don't know what that is, but a couple groups that they they offer legal support for people in these situations because and a lot of people uh people according to them, they are here legally.

But they're being arrested, and it's quite a process to get released.

Um that good thing.

Then the Vets Breakfast was wonderful as always, and um then they went to C4, and instead of having a regular Clackmas County coordinating committee meeting, it was held in Canby, and then they had people from their staff go over their housing, how they're trying to develop the housing and work within the parameters of the state mandate.

They um talked about they have their own bus system and they talked about how they broke off from TriMet and worked through that and where they're going with that, which is pretty interesting.

And then um their economic developer person, Jamie Stickle.

She um she was a lot of energy and fun, and um her her motto is WIT, whatever it takes.

So she was fun.

And then lastly we had our key leaders meeting with 12 together in Tiger terms of the tide.

And um I have to say I I still am so impressed.

These kids that had a day after school were at police station at 7 30 this morning.

That's it.

All right.

Now it's my turn.

Sorry about that.

That's okay.

Well, like I said, my list is short, short.

Uh so the Metro Mayor's Consortium on the 30th.

Uh we nailed down the legislative priorities for 2026 with the session coming here pretty soon.

Uh Mayor Wilson of Portland gave an update on ICE activity and the facility uh in Portland plus uh in their area, because that they have a whole office stood up in the city of Portland for this.

No, no surprise there where they're getting daily updates and information that they're feeding out to uh cities in the area.

Uh and then Mayor Rosener of of uh Sherwood is in charge of the OGEC.

OGEC is going through reviewing their you know rules, the ones we all hate that they've came up with that make no sense.

Uh they're allowing the MMC to have representatives in the meetings, um, and so that they are hearing directly from those folks impacted on the you know the realistic imp implications of what they rule.

So more to come on that.

Uh they just started meeting.

Uh the veterans breakfast was uh fantastic.

I want to thank Sarah and Marilyn, uh Dale Pot for helping organize it.

Uh the Kowanas for uh providing the kitchen staff to do it, and finally Lamb Research had about 10, 15 volunteers that help serve the breakfast, so thanks for all on that.

And then finally, I just want to mention at the community that care uh key leaders meeting this morning.

The council Pratt is now the vice chair of the committee.

And so very much grateful that she stepped up and will be my vice chair for the next year.

That's all I have.

Anything else?

So we're done a little bit early, so we'll go ahead and conclude this work session and we'll reconvene with our regular city council meeting at seven o'clock.