South Beloit’s City Council approved a revised towing agreement with the police department on Jan. 21 after local towing business representatives urged officials to protect local firms and keep towing rotation local.

Local business owners told the council the earlier draft would channel a large share of tows to an outside company. At the meeting, Anthony Raul identified himself as a towing company representative and said changes were needed to prevent the city’s towing work from shifting outside of South Beloit. Vincent Raul, who identified himself as a third-generation family towing business owner in South Beloit, told councilors the proposal “would only benefit one company while disregarding local companies who have served this city,” and asked the council to consider penalties if contracted companies repeatedly fail to take calls.

The council’s discussion picked up those local concerns. Council members and staff described how the revised agreement preserves a local rotation handled by dispatchers, with a “first in, first out” call order: if a company declines or does not answer, dispatch moves to the next company on the list. Council members also requested a mechanism to suspend a company from the rotation for a set period if it declines too many calls or fails to respond at critical times; the mayor said a temporary “time out” (30–60 days) was a concept the council supported and that the police department and dispatch would provide the operational details.

City staff emphasized the intent to bring on additional tow companies with equipment to handle larger incidents when local companies cannot, while keeping small local firms in the rotation for routine tows. Chief James Griffin (referred to in meeting remarks as “chief”) confirmed that the rotation will be managed by dispatchers and described how the revised agreement removes a single outside firm from exclusive assignment for the city’s auctions and routine impounds. The council voted to approve the revised tow agreement.

Council members indicated they expect the police department and staff to return with a clear enforcement process and to track refusals and permit issues so the council can impose temporary removals from the rotation if warranted.