Shelby Township

Township board awards Mount Clemens firm towing contract

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Staff Writer

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — After another round of spirited debate, the Shelby Township Board of Trustees awarded the township’s towing contract to Ruehle’s Towing, which is based in Mount Clemens.

The board voted 5-1 Feb. 7 to approve the contract with Ruehle’s Towing after it dissolved the previous contract with Nightingale Service & Towing at its Dec. 20 meeting.

Ruehle’s Towing and Nightingale Service & Towing were two of six companies vying for the contract along with BBB Auto Enterprises, Byers Wrecker Service, Joe Ballor Towing, and Shelby Township Towing and Wrecker Service.

“Ruehle’s Towing has excellent references and is noted for its professional and accommodating customer service, quick response times and going the extra mile at all times,” said Russell Weipert, who was the consultant hired by the township to re-write its towing contract and conduct interviews with the bidding companies.

The Ruehle’s Towing bid was accepted by the board despite it being 50 percent more than that of Nightingale Service & Towing and the testimony from residents at the meeting that urged the board to go with the cheaper Shelby Township-based company.

Weipert said that low bids, such as the one Nightingale Service & Towing put forward, are often dismissed out of hand when “it represents a large deviation from what are considered industry pricing norms in the area.”

“You tell me I charge too much, now it’s too little,” John Nightingale said, referring to overcharges that were cited as one of four reasons the previous contract was dissolved with more than two years remaining. “It speaks for itself.”

“I don’t know how you can sit there and take away my towing with three years left on the contract — based on allegations. We provide good service, and we have the equipment.”

The Nightingale Service & Towing bid featured a standard tow fee of $42, while Ruehle’s was $85. But Trustee Paula Filar, who was joined in voting for Ruehle’s by Supervisor Richard Stathakis, Treasurer Paul Viar, Trustee Michael Flynn and Trustee Douglas Wozniak, said she didn’t view that bid as “serious.”

“I did not take their bid as if they were serious,” Filar said, also noting that the Nightingale Service & Towing bid in 2010 was not the lowest one the board received at the time.

“They had just charged us $75 (in the 2010 towing contract), and a 50 percent decrease said they weren’t serious at all. They didn’t take the contract seriously at all.”

Nick Nightingale said that his bid was serious and showed how important the township contract was to his business.

“We put the best possible prices that we could to service this community and stay in business,” Nick Nightingale said.

Flynn said his view of the Nightingale Service & Towing bid was influenced by the circumstances surrounding the end of the previous contract.

“Based on their track record, I wouldn’t have a high level of confidence this is what they would be charging,” Flynn said.

Nick Nightingale said that he believed the board’s decision had less to do with towing than it did with his involvement in drives to recall several members of the board — resulting in what John Nightingale called a “witch hunt.”

“Now I have at least three wrecker drivers and two dispatchers that are going to lose their jobs,” Nick Nightingale said. “They had absolutely nothing to do with the recall.”

Trustee Lisa Manzella was the lone vote against awarding the contract to Ruehle’s Towing.

“I have the utmost respect for Ruehle’s Towing,” Manzella said. “(Nightingale Service & Towing was) excluded because of the recall, and that’s what it was all about. It’s not about the work because they do good work.”

Flynn also cited the Nightingale family’s behavior at board meetings as one of the reasons he could not support giving them another township contract.

“In the world I live in, and the world most of our residents live in, how you conduct yourself at a business meeting matters,” Flynn said. “Over the last two years, we’ve certainly seen the gamut of behavior in regard to a business meeting.

“I have serious concern that if you can’t conduct yourself with professionalism in a township board meeting, how you would conduct yourself when a resident is possibly injured, incapacitated or not dealing from a position of advantage.”

Weipert made his recommendation for Ruehle’s Towing because the company has more than the minimum required equipment to meet the contract’s request for proposal and plans to buy more trucks to serve the township.

Ruehle’s has a central dispatch center and plans to have drivers on duty at all times throughout Shelby Township with a local storage facility at Cass Collision at 49491 Hayes Road.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1029.