Placentia : Council Rejects All Towing Service Bids

Claiming that the bidding process for the city’s towing contract was rife with contention, the City Council voted this week to reject all bids from the five towing companies vying for the contract.

The contention started earlier this month when the Police Department recommended that the council reject the lowest bidder, Big Kenny’s Towing.

According to City Administrator Robert D’Amato, a background check of the company turned up several questions about Big Kenny’s qualifications.

“There were concerns regarding response time, overcharging for impounds and work ethics,” D’Amato said.

D’Amato said those charges had not been substantiated. But on July 7, the city decided to reject Big Kenny’s bid in favor of the next lowest bidder, Orange County Tow Service before taking its latest action to throw out all bids.

Debra G. Noriega-Heimlich, owner of Big Kenny’s, had challenged the Police Department’s assessment of her company as unqualified and presented several letters of recommendations to the council.

Noriega-Heimlich said the city is discriminating against her because she is a woman.

“They don’t want a woman; it is very obvious,” Noriega-Heimlich said. “They haven’t produced any documentation that supports that they should question my capabilities.”

Police Capt. Jim Robertson said Big Kenny’s did not meet minimum qualifications specified in the city’s ordinance covering towing. As an example, Robertson said, one of the storage facilities listed by Big Kenny was an auto repair facility, and was not zoned to store vehicles.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the council unanimously voted to reject all bids, with Councilman Arthur G. Newton suggesting that the city study the feasibility of the city’s having its own towing service.

“We are constantly faced with this problem of tow companies impugning each other’s character,” Newton said. “I’m not so sure we can’t (provide towing) ourselves.”

If the city does put the contract out for bid again, Big Kenny’s will submit a bid again, Noriega-Heimlich said.

But she claimed that the bidding will not be fair.

“The point of bidding is that it is secret, but they have all seen my bid,” she said.

Gale King, general manager of Orange County Tow Service, agreed that his competitors would have an unfair advantage.

“What are you going to do now? Everyone has seen what we bid,” King said.

Howard Longballa, finance director for the city, disagreed, saying the process would be fair because everyone would be starting from the same point.