Meeting of the PTRAA was held at Western Sizzlin in Searcy, Arkansas on Tuesday August 18th ,2009 @ 6:30 PM
Member attendees present was: VP Steve Anglin & Louis Anglin (General Automotive, Searcy), Jason Barnett & Linda Brewer (Barnett Towing Recovery, Searcy), Don Ripka (Don’s Towing, Searcy), Lynn Hannah (All-Right Towing, Searcy), Cale Hopkins (Searcy Towing, Searcy), Michelle Hopkins (White County Towing, Searcy), Pres. Junior Phillips (Phillips Brothers Towing, Little Rock), VP Jeff Insley (Insley Towing, Pine Bluff), James Lunsford & Jamie Lunsford (Lunsford Auto, Sheridan), Louis Lee (Jacksonville Towing, Jacksonville), Ryan Hensley (Ryno Towing, Cabot), Don Harvey (Harvey’s Garage, Des Arc), Steve Gafner (Steve’s Auto Center, Conway), Bill Gage (Economy Towing, Greenbrier) & Darryl Mahoney (Burks & Mahoney, Hot Springs)
Associate member present was Kerry Thompson (Haymond Insurance, Searcy)
Executive Director Bradley Phillips was present.
Special guest speaker was Jess Horton, Vice-President of Southwest Tow Operators.
Opening by VP Steve Anglin to welcome everyone and thank them for attending.
Updates by Exec. Dir. Bradley Phillips:
- Working with representatives and legislative officials to turn the progressing bills into acts.
- Working on a public safety announcement as far as the move over law and getting television, newspaper & radio ads together to approve by association. Should we wait and join with AG Dustin McDaniel and/or senators and representatives on this project or should we proceed ahead now. Group agreed that safety is the foremost importance in the industry and advised Bradley Phillips to go ahead and work on this with or without sponsorship of the AG at this time and hope for some of them to come aboard later.
- Showed a safety information packet developed by Greg Cochran to be sent out to all law enforcement throughout the state to make them better aware of the rules & regulations of the towing industry.
- Discussed the need of setting up a newsletter committee to get this off the ground and started.
- Informed the meeting that fellow member Tad Bokker of White Motor Company in Forest City has been nominated to a National training committee.
Introduction of special guest speaker Jess Horton.
- Summary of topics he discussed:
History: STO was started 3 years ago when there was discontent within the previous association which only had 30+ members. To date STO has 847 members and staffed with 10 employees. There is 7 regions of the STO in Texas. Worked to aggressively achieve as many benefits and discounts possible for all members. Including a life insurance policy available to all members, which will pay out whether it be a on-the-job accident or not. The current benefit amount is $15,000 but will be increasing to $25,000 soon for only $9.40 per year. To date the STO has wrote 7 checks to their members. Also worked on excelling in training and safety programs and certifications for all their members. Texas legislature is now governing the certifications on the towing industry in Texas. To date there is 15 active trainers within the STO.
Partnership proposal: This is not a merger but only a partnership among the associations. STO & PTRAA will both retain their individual names and responsibilities. There would be a committee put in place to involve & enable both associations to work together more efficiently. NO money will change hands, each association will solely be responsible for themselves. To improve communications and share learning tools and knowledge with each other. As well as benefit packages would be greater as a whole due to the number of members within the associations. Broaden training programs for both associations to share with all members at minimal costs. Combining the numbers of the association members would give more national attention as far as federal legislation regarding the towing industry. STO has also approached other states as far the same proposal. South Carolina is having a problem at the present time and we should ban together and help them to better organize to fight their legislature. Power comes in numbers. Open minds and strong organization can only further the towing industry as a whole. The only commitment necessary for this proposal is to commit to working together. Participation in numbers is key to making an association a success and progress through joint knowledge together. We all need to improve ourselves in the public image to show we the towing industry as the professional life savers that we are. Professionalism and pride needs to be #1 nationally. Fear not the lose of control within the association cause there will be no contracts, no dues or no administrative costs between the STO and the PTRAA.
It was concluded that the PTRAA would take further time to look over the proposal and have regional meetings to discuss and vote before a decision would be made.
Thoughts on lowering membership dues to increase membership was spoke of.
Everyone was encouraged to work together to solve the internal problems with the PTRAA and everyone agreed that communication was a key factor in this happening.
Announced the next general membership meeting is Nov. 7th 2009 in Dardanelle.
Meeting held at the Kozy Kitchen on September 2, 2009
PTRAA President Jr. Phillis along with Vice Pres. Jeff Insley and vice Pres Will Vance met with a small group of tow operators at the Kozy Kitchen in El Dorado Ar. Those in attendance were Steve Gafner from Conway, Joe Spadoni from Pine Bluff, Wayne Edwards from Lake Village, Reginald Dixon from Lake Village, Billy Atkins from Camden, Steve McKelvin from Camden, Elgie Sims from El Dorado,, Herman Thomason from Hampton, and Noel Thomason from Hampton.
The meeting although small, was very productive as we presented some of the major accomplishments of the PTRAA over the last several years. We discussed the move over law, and the safety of our tow operators, lien laws that help protect our interest with impounded vehicles, weight and length laws and how the PTRAA continues to work with state legislation to protect the tow companies of Arkansas from unwanted regulation. We encouraged non-members present to join the PTRAA and why it is so important for every tow company in Arkansas to be a part of the PTRAA. The Meeting continued as we presented information from the proposal to partner with Southwest Tow Operators of Texas. The benefits to our members and the opportunities to utilize the resources of STO would help us move the PTRAA forward in a positive direction. We ended the meeting with discussions on how we could improve the PTRAA to better serve the tow operators of Arkansas through communication, benefit programs, and training, as well as ways to increase membership.
In conclusion I feel that we had an overwhelming response to a partnership with STO as we work to give every member an opportunity to vote on this proposal. We had two non-members express an interest in joining the PTRAA and we passed out registration forms to every tow company so they could encourage other tow companies in their area to join. I was very impressed with the meeting, although small I began to realize how difficult it is for the small one man operation to leave his business unattended and risk the loss of income in these difficult times. Perhaps meeting with a small group of tow operators in several rural areas of Arkansas to enjoy a meal and fellowship is a way to bring the PTRAA to the tow companies of Arkansas. United We Stand.
Jeff Insley
Vice President PTRAA
Southeast Arkansas