Council Denies Wrecker Permit

by Janice Penix

The Clarksville City Council voted during its monthly meeting Monday, March 10, not to proceed with a request from an Ozark business owner to operate a wrecker service in the city.

Ken Pence, owner of Ken’s Towing, sought approval for a special permit to operate his wrecker service from property he purchased on Interstate Drive near exit 57.

His request had received approval from the city’s planning and zoning commission on Feb. 27, but several local wrecker operators were in attendance at Monday’s meeting and voiced their objections to the request.

Pence told the Council he has owned and operated his towing business since 1986 and has been in Ozark since 2000. He has been on the wrecker rotation for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office since 2017, when he purchased property in Hartman for use to impound vehicles from the county.

He has recently purchased a 1.71-acre lot on Interstate Drive where he has been developing the property to include an office and repair shop. According to his permit request, the property, which is zoned C-3 (highway commercial) is a wooded lot which borders I-40 on its north side and a mini storage facility on its west side.

“I have invested a lot of money already, and I intend to buy everything local,” Pence said. “We are community oriented. My guys are trained, and my equipment is second to none.”

Pence said he made the decision to add a second location in Clarksville due to the number of service calls he makes in the area, which has increased since the Love’s truck stop opened.

“Most of my business is here in Clarksville,” he said. “My wreckers are over here. So it made sense to have a shop here, so my guys are just minutes away instead of hours. I’m all about growing the business.”

Pence said he would like to open a second location in Clarksville to better serve the area, including as an addition to the Clarksville Police Department’s wrecker rotation.

However, local wrecker operators who already serve the city asked the Council not to grant Pence’s request. Among those who addressed aldermen were Zach King, owner of King’s Towing and Recovery, and Matt Jones, co-owner of Sparkman’s Garage and Towing.

“I have been here my whole life and been in the wrecker business since ‘97,” King said. “We might not be as flashy as Ken’s but we can get the job done. There is no need for another towing business here, we’ve got three as it is.”

While Pence pointed to his ability to offer enhanced heavy-duty towing, King said that service was unnecessary and the equipment he and the other local operators currently offer is sufficient.

“We don’t need heavy rotators,” he said. “We do road service calls, towing calls. We work our tails off and get it done. I’ve never been to a scene where I couldn’t clear the road with my wreckers. I’ve invested myself in this city for a long time.”

King also said the streets near where Pence wants to open his towing office and impound lot are too narrow and too close to a residential area.

Jones said Sparkman’s is the longest-standing mechanic shop and wrecker service in town, and is a business he is attempting to grow to better serve the community alongside his grandfather, Darrell Plank.

“Darrell has been around a long time and seen wreckers come and go,” Jones said. “The few that have stuck around are sitting right here. I think the three of us are handling it well, and we have made an agreement to get along, to continue to serve Clarksville.”

Both King and Jones said another objection to Pence’s operation is that because he does not keep trucks in Clarksville, it takes longer for his wrecker drivers to respond to calls.

Pence, however, said his drivers often respond to calls during the overnight hours or on holidays when other services are unavailable.

Mayor David Rieder asked Pence whether payments to release impounded vehicles would be made in Clarksville or in Ozark, stating he was concerned that the tax dollars should stay local if the wreckers were operating locally.

Pence said he will employ a secretary at the Clarksville office full time, who will take payments and release vehicles. He also stated his lot size is 75’x100’, which will be sufficient for the number of vehicles he plans to impound.

“I’m going to move cars out of there,” he said. “We can get two or three semis in there with the cars, but we don’t want them to sit there.”

Both King and Jones told aldermen the addition of another wrecker service in the area would hurt their family-owned businesses.

“You’re going to be taking food away from our families. We might not have the flashy trucks, but we get the job done,” King said. “We don’t need another wrecker here. If you let him in here, it’s going to be a pain.”

Following the initial reading of the ordinance to grant the special permit, a motion to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading failed by a vote of 2-4, with Christel Thompson and Eddie Bradley voting yes and Patrick Baker, Eddie King, Rob Risinger and Robert Thompson voting no.

Following the vote, Pence said he will continue to work toward operating his business in Clarksville.

“I may not be on the city rotation, but there will be a business there,” he said. “I have made the investment and a commitment to that.”

According to state law, a municipal ordinance must be read three times before the Council can take action to adopt it, but the three readings are not required to occur in a single meeting.

The full story appears in the March 12 edition of The Graphic, found online and in businesses throughout Johnson and Franklin counties.