City cracking own on expired business licenses
TRENTON >> Car Depot Sales & Service was temporarily repoed.
The city clerk’s office shut down the business Wednesday after the company refused to pay to renew its business license, going so far as to get a Mercer County freeholder to phone city officials about their enforcement efforts on the repair shop, city officials said.
The clerk’s office had been in contact with representatives from the Car Depot for weeks about noncompliance with Trenton’s business licensing ordinance.
Car Depot, which has locations on Broad and Chambers streets and does business with the city, was operating without a valid business license since 2017, city clerk Dwayne Harris told The Trentonian.
Harris said the capital city repair shop owed more than $4,000 in licensing and late fees. Licensing inspector Shirley Lopreato has been “aggressively going after” businesses that have neglected to renew their licenses, the clerk said.
As part of the crackdown, city officials visited at least a dozen businesses in recent months about their noncompliance with the city’s licensing requirements, but Car Depot became the first one temporarily shuttered since the council passed a new enforcement measure earlier this year, the clerk said.
At least one vehicle from the city’s police fleet was in the lot of the Car Depot when city officials arrived to shut down the business, the clerk said.
“There seemed to be a sense of blatant refusal to become compliant,” Harris said, explaining why the city took the drastic measure of shutting down the repair shop. “The city of Trenton expect every business to procure a proper business license. We are willing to work with anyone that has a situation.”
Mayor Reed Gusciora said the city will honor any outstanding invoices owed to the repair shop for maintenance performed on city vehicles and would not attempt to withhold those funds until the owner pays off his owed balance.
Not long after the clerk got off the phone with the newspaper, someone from Car Depot visited City Hall and paid off the $4,000 balance. With that issue cleared up, the clerk confirmed the business was free to re-open.
Someone who answered the phone at Car Depot said the owner, Mickel Longo, was on vacation and unavailable to comment. When asked if the business was open, the individual hung up the phone.
Trenton has more than 800 businesses, about 85 percent of which are current on their licensing, Harris said.
As of the clerk’s last count, about 100 businesses were operating without current licenses. The count included businesses that were no longer open but hadn’t notified the clerk’s office they closed, the clerk said.
In recent months, city officials have stepped up compliance efforts as it relates to local businesses.
Just this week, the clerk sent Hawks Towing & Recovery owner Brian Hawkins a cease-and-desist letter after a councilman visited the business last week and learned they were illegally refusing to accept debit and credit card payments to secure the release of impounded vehicles.
In February, the council approved an ordinance change, spearheaded by Harris’ office, increasing fines from $150 to $1,500 for first-time businesses operating without proper licensing.
The fine doesn’t apply to businesses that initially registered with the city but allowed licenses to lapse.
License fees for merchants, retail and distributors are $300 and $500 for pawnbrokers, which must also show proof they’re registered with the state Department of Revenue, according to the city ordinance.
The ordinance allows the city to force businesses that do no renew licenses to close until they come into compliance.
“It seemed liked some of the business owners were very ambivalent toward their obligation to [remain licensed],” Harris said. “I felt this was the most effective way to encourage them to do what they required to do by the ordinance.”
Representatives at Car Depot apparently felt they were being unfairly targeted by city officials and went to great lengths to try to get out of paying off their outstanding balance, officials said.
The manager at the Car Depot – identified only as Toby – got a Mercer County freeholder to intervene.
Harris confirmed that a male freeholder contacted Lopreato on behalf of the Car Depot but he refused to name the public official who attempted to influence city officials to ease up the requirements on the repair shop.
“It was stated that he was going to call his, [the clerk’s office] would be hearing from his people,” Harris recounted of the conversation. “When Shirley initially went out, it was, ‘We don’t think it’s right. You’re picking on us.’ I’m not picking on anyone. I’m visiting everyone, equally and the same. He started saying, ‘I know so and so and so.’ … People drop names in this office all the time. I don’t care who you know. The rules are the rules. The ordinances are the ordinances.”
The clerk didn’t know what exactly the freeholder said during the conversation, but Lopreato held firm during the exchange, he said.
“She is very strong and solid in what she does,” he said.
While the clerk felt the freeholder’s call was inappropriate, he said no one from his office contacted Mercer County Brian Hughes’ administration to share their concerns.
South Ward councilman George Muschal, seemingly piggybacking off at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley’s recent one-man undercover sting at Hawks Towing, said he had been pushing for the city to take action against the repair shop.
And he demanded to know the identity of the freeholder who made the call.
“Freeholders shouldn’t be involved in city business they have no right putting their two cents in city business, especially when it’s costing us $4,000 and the man’s refusing to pay,” the former cop turned statesman said. “If they find out, I think he should be brought in on ethics charges. He has no right to get involved in city business. The city is struggling right now, and we don’t need anyone else getting involved in city business when they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
The Trentonian attempted to reach all seven county freeholders to figure out who made the phone call to Lopreato.
Freeholders Sam Frisby and Pat Colavita Jr. denied calling Trenton officials on behalf of Car Depot.
Frisby wants to know which of his colleagues attempted to intervene.
“I think that’s one of the things that frustrating,” he said. “People think the city is a place where people can do things to get over. ‘ ‘Oh well. You don’t have to do that.’ I’m a nonprofit, and I have to have a business license.”
Colavita denied being involved or knowing anyone at the Trenton repair shop.
“There’s only two [freeholders] left, and I’m being very honest. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
The remaining male freeholders on the board are chairman John Cimino and vice chair Andrew Koontz.
They did not respond to messages seeking comment.