The MSU Board of Trustees approved Friday an amendment to the university’s towing ordinance after concerns grew that the policy did not follow state law.
The amendment replaces the ordinance of more than 20 years with a much shorter ordinance university officials hope will cause less confusion.
The policy change will allow MSU to tow vehicles with more than six outstanding parking tickets as well as conform to Michigan’s Uniform Traffic Code - a state law the university was not following.
Trustee Dee Cook said the amendment was a necessary step for the board to take.
“The university needed to clarify this,” Cook said. “I think it was something that we had to do. We had to be in compliance with the laws.”
A 1983 Michigan Supreme Court decision, Molony-Vierstra v. Michigan State University, rendered the towing ordinance invalid, ruling it was not in “substantial conformity” with the state’s traffic code, from which Michigan’s municipalities base their traffic codes.
Despite the court ruling, the university has continued to tow vehicles and charge their owners. In the summer, Jeremy O’Hara, an MSU graduate whose vehicle was towed, had the $55 fee refunded by the university after a judge decided the current towing ordinance is just as invalid as it was in 1983.
The previous ordinance was ruled invalid because it allowed the university to tow vehicles to enforce parking laws. The Uniform Traffic Code said a vehicle could only be towed if it were safety hazard or blocking traffic.
While university officials contend the towing practices are within the law, they understand a change is needed. MSU President M. Peter McPherson said the new ordinance will be easier to understand, and he doesn’t want to see parking on campus become even more difficult.
“We believe there is authority for all the towing that we’ve done over the years but this adoption today confirms the authority,” McPherson said Friday. “We believe this ordinance will help clear up the confusion, to an extent.
“I think most people would say you need to be able to tow for some reasons.”
The university towed about 2,000 cars in 1999.
The Board of Trustees and the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety also are making an effort to inform people of the new policy, hoping there will be fewer towed cars, some say.
MSU police Chief Bruce Benson said the department will include a flier with issued parking tickets that explains the towing policy to warn those who are nearing a policy that allows MSU to tow a car with six or more outstanding parking tickets.
University officials also will include a flier explaining the towing policy when the reminders for outstanding tickets are sent.
“I think they’re both good ideas and this will help clear everything up a little,” Benson said. “I think most of the people in the community know the towing policies, but the concern was about someone who has unpaid parking tickets coming out one day, and their car is gone.”
Jamie Gumbrecht can be reached at gumbrec1@msu.edu.
