West Allis committee delays decision on towing contract after bidders question scoring

The Public Works committee of the City of West Allis postponed consideration of a resolution to accept a towing-services proposal after several tow companies and council members raised questions about how proposals were scored.

Chair (unidentified) introduced resolution 2025-5714, a contract recommendation from staff based on a point-scoring evaluation. Staff told the committee the award standard for this service is whether a proposer can provide “satisfactory service,” not a lowest-responsible-bidder standard.

Council Member (speaker 2) and others said two other tow companies that submitted proposals told them they had been unsure what documentation to supply and that the point spread between top proposals was close. Council Member (speaker 3) urged the committee to delay a final decision so members could review the scoring criteria and responses for operational experience and snow-emergency response time.

Representatives from three local towing firms told the committee they believed the scoring undervalued their operational experience or facility capacity. Johnny Van, owner of Finish Line Towing, said his company had supplied equipment lists and expected a higher qualifications score. Jeff Biller, owner of All City Towing and an industry consultant, said he had been scored lower than expected on response-time and snow-emergency preparedness. Charlie, operations manager at M and S, said M and S operates from West Allis and can house a large number of vehicles, which he argued should have been reflected in scoring.

Committee members asked staff to provide copies of the scoring summaries and the bidders’ pricing records before a follow-up meeting. The committee voted to postpone the resolution to a committee-of-the-whole meeting scheduled for Jan. 20 at 6:00 p.m., at which the three applicants will be invited to give short presentations and answer council questions. The chair said applicants would be given limited presentation time and the committee would determine question time allotments.

The postponement vote was announced as 4 in favor and 1 opposed. Staff told the committee there has been no binding contract in place since 2022 and that NNS has operated under a holdover arrangement for police tow requests pending a new contract.

Next steps: the committee-of-the-whole session is scheduled for Jan. 20 at 6:00 p.m., when staff will present the scoring details and bidders will be invited to present and answer questions.