Towing ordinance repeal considered; Talk of Town operators removed from meeting
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - A Talk of Town Towing truck at the scene of a vehicle accident in Turkey Run in 2023.
SHENANDOAH – After two versions and no meaningful implementation of either, Shenandoah borough council mulled a repeal of the towing ordinance altogether at Monday night’s meeting.
Council passed a towing ordinance in 2022 effectively establishing a rotation for towing calls for vehicle accidents, abandoned vehicles, and more.
That rotation was briefly followed in early 2023 when, in January, Ruth Williams — owner of Talk of Town LLC — urged the borough to follow the ordinance and, later that week and in April, the company was called for two accidents.
From then through July 2024, the company hadn’t received a call.
Council repealed and replaced the towing ordinance in late 2024, approving the ordinance on Oct. 21. It eliminated the fee structure from the prior ordinance and established a month-to-month rotation instead of a call-by-call rotation.
Now, council is considering repealing the ordinance altogether with no replacement yet.
Council voted to advertise a repeal of the ordinance. They would need to vote again at April’s meeting to formally repeal the ordinance.
“It would give us a month to come up with an answer,” Councilman Michael Whitecavage said.
“Next meeting, council could vote to table the issue, too,” Solicitor Shane Hobbs said.
Council voted unanimously to approve advertising the repeal.
Ruth Williams and her husband Dwight, both longtime proponents of the towing ordinance and a towing rotation in town, were in attendance and attempted to interject when the issue came up. Council repeatedly told the two to wait until the second public portion, which public participation is allowed.
In that portion, Ruth spoke took the floor first, saying she’s seen Sunshine Act violations in the past few months. She also alleged her civil rights were being violated through the borough’s implementation of the towing ordinance.
“I have voiced my concerns for nearly five years, my concerns directly to every council member regarding the borough’s failure to enforce its own towing ordinance, the lack of transparency in borough decisions regarding towing operations, and the blatant disregard for fair and equal business practices,” she said.
She claims the borough’s actions reflect favoritism, bias, and a lack of due process, alleging the borough is acting in bad faith.
Instead of the repeal-and-replace method, she said the previous ordinance should’ve amended.
“Can you justify this,” Ruth asked. When Council President Joe Boris began to respond, she interrupted.
Ruth said the new ordinance was “drafted in a way I couldn’t comply.”
The ordinance requires towing companies operating on behalf of the borough to have a heavy wrecker capable of towing a vehicle in excess of 17,000 pounds.
While crashes requiring such equipment are rare within borough limits, they have occurred as recently as 2024. Steve’s Towing, the other towing company in Shenandoah, operates two heavy wreckers.
Ruth worried that signing on as a towing operator under the new ordinance would put the her in jeopardy if the company did not operate a heavy wrecker. Dwight asked who included the requirement in the ordinance.
“There’s no way I’m purchasing a $300,000 truck when I haven’t even made a dollar from the borough,” Ruth said. “All of you have failed me and my business and I want to see accountability.”
After a lengthy discussion well over the time limit established for public comment, council attempted to stop the discussion citing the time limit. Dwight attempted to interject and Hobbs said the two count as one person discussing the same topic, per the borough’s public comment policy.
The two were subsequently removed from the meeting by Shenandoah Police Captain Travis Bowman.
Flor Gomez, a Shenandoah business owner, objected to Dwight’s removal.
“There was a resolution that was adopted by this council and it made it clear that if one person speaks on a particular subject and there’s another person there whose going to speak about the same thing, they can’t just tack onto it,” Hobbs said.
“A little bit of decorum I think is very important for us,” Borough Manager Mike Cadau said.
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