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City moves to raise vehicle-storage fees; council seeks clearer cleanup and complaint procedures
Summary
The administration asked the committee to raise vehicle-storage fees at the private impound lot; council approved the change and pressed staff to require cleanup after wrecks and to circulate a single complaint contact for debris and damage reports.
Committee members approved Ordinance 465-2026, which raises storage fees charged at the city’s contracted vehicle detention center. Assistant Director Jason Shackner and Sergeant Donigan explained the change and how lot operations are managed.
The ordinance amends section 405.04 to increase the storage fee charged by the contracted vehicle lot from $9 to $16 for the first five days and from $6 to $14 per subsequent day. Staff said Cleveland’s storage fees had not been updated in roughly 25 years and remain lower than many comparable Ohio cities; PUCO rules allow private towers and storage fees up to a stated maximum (the administration cited the Ohio Administrative Code limit as context).
Sergeant Donigan explained operations at the contracted Quigley Road lot (operated by TMT Consolidated doing business as Cleveland Vehicle Detention Center): recovered-stolen vehicles and traffic-incident tows are processed, photographed, and assigned a slot; the lot’s operator collects storage fees directly to fund lot staffing and security. The city charges separate impound/tow fees that go to municipal accounts.
Councilmembers raised recurring complaints about debris and vehicle parts left in neighborhoods after crashes and asked that the city require tow contractors to perform roadside cleanup and for staff to provide a single contact for complaints. Assistant Director Shackner said the proposed tow-contract amendments include compensation for more-difficult cleanup jobs and that staff will circulate a memo identifying the impound-unit complaint contact for all members.
The committee approved the ordinance as read and requested that staff distribute the cleanup/complaint contact procedures to all council members; no roll-call vote tally was recorded in the committee transcript.
What’s next: the ordinance proceeds to final committee handling; staff will circulate the complaint contact and incorporate debris-cleanup compensation language into tow-contract amendments before final council consideration.
