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AP Man Thinks His Business Is Getting Shafted

Highlands Today file photo

An overturned vehicle involved in a crash on U.S. 27 South in Sebring is towed by Alan Jay Towing in 2008.

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By LAURA NESBITT

Highlands Today

Published: March 26, 2009

Updated:

SEBRING - The owner of Macklin Towing & Recovery in Avon Park said he is losing money because of incompetent city and county employees.

"We have paid the price for your learning curves," Macklin said.

Macklin told Avon Park City councilors Monday that outside towing companies are getting his business.

"We've got a pass-the-blame system and I'm the one paying the price," Macklin said.

Macklin said he has made repeated requests about a dispatch system that he claims doesn't work.

Requests for a towing company within Highlands County go through central dispatch, which is operated by employees of the sheriff's office.

If the owner of a vehicle requests a particular wrecking company, a dispatch operator calls that wrecker. If the owner makes no request, then the dispatch operator keys into the computer-aided dispatch system (CAD) a code depending upon where the call was made, said Bonnie Gregg, administrator of the communication division.

"It's in our CAD system," Gregg said.

"There's a rotation list broken up by areas. For instance, the city of Sebring would have its own area rotation list."

Last June, Avon Park fire and EMS all consolidated within the sheriff's operated dispatch center. Sebring joined the prior year. Lake Placid calls were always handled by the sheriff's dispatch center. Prior to the consolidation the municipalities funded their own dispatch centers, Gregg said.

Gregg said she has changed the towing company key codes in the system to avoid any further operator error. Gregg also said she searched system records starting last June when Avon Park Police Department consolidated into the dispatch center looking for errors.

"We went into every wrecker company," Gregg said.

"We looked through everyone. We only found two times that we were in error."

At the city council meeting, Macklin said he has lost business because he was forced to handle the problem himself.

"I know, Richard, you've had a problem with this for a long time," said Mayor Sharon Schuler.

Councilman George Hall said the city was "promised the world with centralized dispatch."

Sheriff Susan Benton said they were aware of the problem.

"I understand from the Avon Park Police Department staff who worked in their communications center prior to consolidation that it was not unusual for Macklin Towing to be in there every other week complaining about where and when their wrecker service was called," Benton said.

She said the city of Avon Park has saved "nearly $400,000" through the consolidation process. That dollar figure includes equipment, maintenance agreements and personnel, she said.

"For one minor little detail of two errors since they came on for the year, it's a little overreaction," Benton said.

"I would only request that before the city council makes public negative comments about the operation of central dispatch that they would have given us the opportunity (to comment) because the matter has been resolved."

According to David Johnson, owner of Avon Paint & Body Inc., of which Avon Towing is a side business, he hasn't had any problems with losing clients because of dispatch.

Johnson gets towing calls from county dispatch, Florida Highway Patrol, motor clubs and individuals. Johnson said he has had some problems with the highway patrol that were operator error. But most of his business is from owner's calls.

Avon Park Police Chief Matthew Doughney met with both Macklin and Johnson on Wednesday and told them about new procedures within his department.

"You want to treat people with respect," Doughney said.

"In any agency there's always human error. We've implemented some new procedures to take the errors out."

All his officers are now instructed on correct wrecking company protocol so they won't let an unauthorized company handle the tow.

"This is a collective effort between the sheriff's office and my department," Doughney said.

"I want to help both towing companies out because I know that times are tough," he said.

Highlands Today reporter Laura Nesbitt can be reached at (863) 368-5857 or lnesbitt@highlandstoday.com.

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