BOYNTON BEACH — City commissioners recently approved a three-year towing franchise agreement with two tow companies, which will bring in an extra $204,575 annually for Boynton Beach.
Beck's Towing & Recovery will pay the city $104,500 annually and Zuccala Wrecker Service will pay $100,075 to tow all of the disabled and illegally parked vehicles within the city limits.
In April, the commission approved moving forward with the bidding. The move seemed to assuage many tow companies, who felt that had been cut out of the city's business by the previous exclusive contract. The previous contract had six tow companies on rotation for calls, which was time-consuming for city staff. Both Beck's and Zuccala are in this rotation.
The city received bids from nine towing companies by the Aug. 3 deadline. A company could submit bids for a single tow-company agreement, a two-company agreement, and a three company agreement.
After reviewing bids, city staff recommended that the commission approve a three-year agreement with the two highest-ranked bidders for the two-vendor scenario. The agreement includes the option for the commission to renew it for two additional one-year periods.
Although the city could have brought in more money with the single-vendor scenario, which would have gone to Beck's Towing for $223,500, Lori LaVerriere, assistant city manager, said that staff decided that having two vendors would be in the best interest of residents.
Towing has been a controversial issue in Boynton Beach for many years. In 2008, Craig Goldstein, owner of Westway Towing, told investigators that former City Commissioner David Katz offered to lobby the commission on his behalf in exchange for $25,000.
Mayor José Rodriguez received campaign contributions from both of the tow companies chosen for the franchise agreement. He also received a contribution from one of the other seven companies that submitted bids - Emerald Transportation Corp., which is in the six-vendor rotation.
Scott Blasie, the city's code compliance administrator and one of the four staff members who reviewed the towing franchise bids, said that the process was fair, but he understands where such complaints are coming from.
"We ran into a lot of politicking and salesmanship during our site visits and inspections," he said.
Boynton Beach is not the first municipality to move forward with a towing franchise agreement. West Palm Beach charges $15,000 a year to each of four towing companies. Boca Raton charges two companies $55,000 each, and Delray Beach charges $160,000 to a single company.
Despite going through an open-bid process, not all of the towing companies were happy .
Attorney Michael Weiner, speaking on behalf of Westway Towing, told the commission last month that the towing companies selected present a liability for the city because they rent and subcontract some of their equipment, and they have multiple storage locations.
Based on the rating system that city staff used, Westway came in third for the two-vendor franchise agreement. The company isn't in the city's current six-vendor rotation.
"That's nice that the company owns all of its equipment outright, but that doesn't necessarily make them a better towing company," Blasie said. "Somebody's going to win and somebody's going to lose. You can't make everybody happy."
Weiner has submitted a bid protest letter on behalf of Westway, which is being reviewed by the city attorney. A recommendation will be sent to the city manager, who will make a decision and respond to the protester.
Westway will have 30 days to appeal the decision, and if the company chooses to do so, the city commission will have final say over the matter.
But until then, the towing franchise agreement is on hold.
"Hopefully it will be resolved soon," LaVerriere said. "It's lost revenue for the city."
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