Pueblo Council Member: Proposed ordinance takes aim at predatory towing company

Pueblo City Council members are trying to combat towing, some on the council believe fines are too high and that it is difficult for drivers to know where a safe place to park is.

The City of Pueblo has proposed a new ordinance requiring businesses to display more signs to prevent illegal parking.

Empty lots like the one behind the Sangre De Cristo Art Museum has seen its fair share of tows. Critics of local tow companies point to this abandoned lot as a trap for people looking for parking. Despite having five signs indicating private parking.

One council member, Ray Aguilera, pointed the blame at one specific towing company, RMA Towing.

“We have a problem with a towing company, a single company that operates in a predatory manner ,” Aguilera said. “They are towing peoples cars and charging them $300, which I think is excessive.”

The proposed ordinance can’t dictate towing fees but can require private property owners to post more signage in front of Pueblo businesses.

The ordinance requires three types of signs: one at towing carrier facilities, another on private property and more individual parking signs in front of each space.

Property owners would have to post the signs that not only indicate they tow but the towing carriers contact, location of the vehicle, legal rights and the Public Utility Commission’s ( PUC ) contact information. The signs would even have the business owners name and contact information on them.

Derek Proud, owner of RMA Towing, says his fees and the signs they post are heavily regulated by the Colorado Public Utility Commission.

“If I were to overcharge a penny were talking fines of up to thousands of dollars,” Proud said. “There has been mistakes in the past by not only us, but property owners as well, even the people who’ve been towed. I think this is something we can all come together on and make an agreement to make things b etter. ”

Proud told KRDO that he isn’t sure that these new signs would prevent tows. He believes more words on a sign won’t turn away drivers, and they will park on the private property anyway.

Business owner Lee Galdney began working with RMA Towing when the new courthouse was built four years ago. He says a lack of parking at the courthouse across the street led to parking problems at his own business.

Galdney says the new signs would only serve business owners under contract with RMA.

“The ordinance states that I have to have my name, phone number and that I have entered into a contract with a towing company on the sign as well as a myriad of other things,” Galdney said.

Due to all the complaints against RMA, Galdney believes they are the most regulated towing company by the PUC in all of Pueblo County.

City council will continue to discuss the towing ordinance in an upcoming city council meeting. A vote may not come until mid-September.