DECATUR, Ala. — During a City of Decatur council work session, residents of the community asked for change. "I understand you all are saying that you're going to change policies and make all of these arrangements down the road," resident Yvette Rice shared. "But we need some things change right now."
It's been two months since the death of Steve Perkins following police intervention involving a dispute with a tow truck driver, and residents of Decatur are suggesting a change to repossession laws. "This is a request to initiate the process to place into permanent city law the Steven Clay Perkins ordinance that will make it illegal for any towing company or other such companies to make repossession between hours the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.," resident Dr. Claudette Owens explained.
The hope is for this law to prevent incidents like what happened with Perkins from happening again, but councilman Hunter Pepper sees it from a different perspective. "It's not a secret I own a business in the city of Decatur, and I pay for a business license every year," Pepper said. "Every other council member owns a business in the city of Decatur and has to pay business taxes, and they have to purchase business licenses in the city of Decatur. So, they understand that whenever you do these things, you know you want the freedom being able of being able to own that business."
Pepper is against the inaction of the law, citing it would affect business operators who are trying to make a living. "In this business, repossessions do happen at night, that is the most common time," Pepper said. "So, when this is occurring, they're making money to be able to feed their families, and this is how individuals that do this full time feed their families.
"I personally think that by putting in an ordinance like this, we're going to prevent those individuals from feeding their families as they're not going to be able to operate as long as they would like to," he added.
Outside of his stance, Pepper says there is support of the proposed ordinance coming from council. "We had a specific council member go out to say that he believes that it should be from dusk till dawn, which is 6 p.m. till 6 a.m., and in my personal opinion that's unacceptable," Pepper states. "There have been council members [who] reach out to the city attorney's office to ask for this ordinance to look at the legality of this ordinance."
Even though Pepper's choice may not be popular, he understands the frustration. "Unfortunately, as I've said before, I will not support this ordinance," Pepper said. "It has nothing to do with the isolated incident at hand. This is infringing upon someone's rights."