Stateline Recycling cited for dealing salvaged vehicles
JANESVILLE — The state Department of Transportation has issued a Janesville recycling company citations totaling more than $1,000 for not promptly turning over titles on junked vehicles to the state.
Stateline Recycling, 322 S. Crosby, has since been licensed to accept the junked vehicles, said Jim Anderson of the DOT.
Anderson said the DOT learned from the state Department of Natural Resources that Stateline was accepting vehicles from the public and not turning the titles in to the state within 10 days. With the DNR, DOT officials visited the business in July and verified that Stateline was acquiring junk vehicles from the public with the intention to dismantle them for scrap parts. That requires a DOT license, he said.
Earlier this month, the DOT notified Stateline of the title issue and authorized seven citations, each for $160.80.
Anderson said Stateline, which had hundreds of vehicles on its property, is now licensed to accept the vehicles.
Jim Grafft, who owns Stateline, said the DOT issue was the result of a new licensing rule that took effect in 2006.
“Apparently, we needed another type of license, and if we were notified of it, I wasn’t aware of it,” Grafft said, adding that his manager at the time is no longer with the company.
Grafft said his company has been accepting vehicles since he bought it 10 years ago, and the additional license was an oversight that has since been taken care of. He said that Stateline is not an auto salvage business. It accepts vehicles and only removes their batteries, tires, gas tanks and catalytic converters.
Once Stateline agreed to pay the fines, the company received its updated license, Grafft said.
The DNR also was involved with Stateline in the investigation of alleged violations of solid waste, hazardous waste and hazardous substance rules. In June, the DNR issued Stateline a notice of violation for improperly stored electronics, trash and drywall.
A meeting between DNR and Stateline officials in July determined that the company has adequately addressed the violations and the DNR agreed to withhold any enforcement.
“The DNR is constantly involved with our business, as they are with all businesses of this type,” Grafft said this morning. “They’re always welcome, and, in fact, they were on the site again yesterday.
“The DNR is always checking to make sure we’re doing things right, and we are,” he said. “We’ve been growing the business for more than 10 years.”
Aug 21, 2008 at 7:05 p.m.
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It's funny this article came up....about a year ago my son scrapped his vehicle there (it was too costly for him to fix what was wrong with it) and about a month after that I got a phone call from the DMV that someone was trying to reserect the title as lost and my name came up as the last owner. They had resold his car without a title. When I called the manager he denied knowing any thing that I was talking about! Only after threatening to get my lawyer involved did they give the woman back her money and give me proof that the car was scrapped. The lady had been driving this car around with the title still in my name(me thinking the car was long gone). If anything had happened I could have been held responsible! I can thank the Janesville DMV for having the insight to call me and verify what they thought was something "not quite right."
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