Council rejects amended indemnity language from crossing-guard vendor; asks staff to seek standard terms

The Redondo Beach City Council voted 4-0 to reject a proposed amendment to the city's standard indemnity clause requested by All City Management Services, the vendor the city uses to provide supplemental crossing-guard staffing.

Police and public works staff explained the city funds 27 crossing-guard posts through a combination of core budget and one-time funds. The total program cost identified in staff materials was about $579,000, with $212,000 budgeted in the core budget to cover 12 sites and additional one-time funds covering 15 positions. Chief staff described operational difficulty filling 22 in-house positions and the historical use of the vendor to provide the remaining five posts.

City Attorney Joy Ford told the council the vendor sought to delete the word “sole” from the indemnity provision — language that would allow apportionment of comparative fault — and had proposed capping its indemnity at $6 million despite marketing materials listing $10 million in insurance. Ford said those changes would be an unusual concession for a city to make and recommended retaining the city's standard indemnity wording. The council voted to reject the vendor's requested indemnity language and asked staff to return next week with options; staff said if the vendor will not accept the city's standard language, they will bring a recommendation identifying five locations to be left unstaffed when school starts.

Action taken: reject the proposed indemnity change and direct staff to require the vendor accept the city's standard indemnity clause or return with staffing alternatives. The motion passed 4-0.