Huntington Park council tables decision on police towing contract, asks staff for supplemental report

Huntington Park's City Council on Monday declined to resolve a contested police towing contract, instead tabling the item and asking staff for more information and legal analysis.

The debate centered on whether to award a contract to the lone bidder, reject the sole proposal and reissue the request for proposals (RFP), or pursue a rotational vendor model. Chief of Police (title from transcript) told the council staff and the city manager supported reissuing the RFP to provide more qualified options and to avoid perceived long-term relationships that can develop between vendors and municipal operations.

Councilmember Arturo Flores moved to award the contract to the sole bidder identified in the transcript as Mr. Cease and to authorize staff to execute the agreement; that motion resulted in a 2-2 tie and failed. A subsequent motion to reject the sole proposal and re-advertise the RFP likewise failed on a 2-2 roll call. Several councilmembers noted the incumbent company's community involvement, while others warned that a single vendor holding multiple municipal contracts can create problems.

"They've essentially been embedded in city operations for many, many years," the chief said, urging the council to consider whether broader outreach to other qualified tow service providers was warranted. The chief also described rotational contracts used by other jurisdictions as a way to distribute service calls among multiple firms and explained the draft contract term described in the meeting as five years with successive one-year extensions and a termination clause for nonperformance.

One councilmember pressed staff on the procurement process, saying: "I feel like it was kind of already, like, this decision has been made," and asked why award options and contract language were not prepared if awarding the sole bidder was feasible. The transcript shows another councilmember raised concerns that allowing only the incumbent to continue could create a regional concentration of towing work that disadvantages other providers.

City staff reported that the current service agreement had expired in September 2024 and said they had begun an internal investigation and interviews to address concerns raised at an earlier meeting. The council voted 3-1 to table the item and directed staff to return with a supplemental report covering interim towing operations, market-rate comparisons with neighboring cities, proposed revisions to the RFP to increase competition, and a legal analysis of the city's exposure from operating under an expired agreement.

The council also recorded that the mayor had recused from votes on this item due to a conflict identified in the meeting. The item will return on a future agenda after staff provides the requested memo and legal review.