BUENA PARK : Firm Leaves City in Citation Limbo

The firm Buena Park hired to process and collect parking citations has closed its Huntington Beach office and filed for bankruptcy, leaving the city in limbo.

“They didn’t notify us,” said Police Chief Richard M. Tefank. “We found out by not having phone calls returned.”

Tefank said the city has a contract with West-Computil Corp. and has used the company since 1990. But the Police Department discovered in late October that the company was evicted from its offices and had failed to perform services required by the contract.

Because the unexpected closing created an emergency, the City Council on Monday took action to hire Phoenix Group Information Systems to perform the work through June 30, 1993, at an estimated cost of $21,000.

Cost for processing the citations is $1.15 each, which is the same the city was paying West-Computil. Usually, such council action to approve a contract is subject to an open bid process.

Now there is an urgency to hire another firm to ensure that people who paid their parking tickets will get credit, said Police Lt. Tony Kelly.

“Citizens who paid tickets might find a conflict that they paid and there’s no record,” Kelly said.

If there is a conflict, Kelly said, it could prevent them from registering their vehicles and subject them to the possibility of facing late fees.

Kelly said mix-ups, if any, will be handled on an individual basis.

In addition, officials worry that the city will lose revenue if parking citations are not processed.

Tefank said an estimated 22,000 parking tickets are issued each year, with the city receiving about $400,000 annually in revenue.

City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said it hasn’t been determined whether the city will take legal action against West-Computil for its discontinuation of service or possible loss of revenue.

“It’s not clear to us if the failure of their contract has cost us any money yet,” O’Rourke said.

Kelly said Police Department employees did retrieve most of the outstanding tickets and fine payments.

“It has caused us a lot of extra work, but not any problems,” Kelly said. “It was one of those crisis things, and we decided we had to do something quick.”