Impound Contract InvestigationM1 I I I 111111
111 1
CITY OF HOPKINS
1010 FIRST STREET SOUTH HOPKINS, MINNESOTA 55343 612/935 -8474
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Bill Craig, City Mgr.
FROM: Butch LaBerge, Police Supt.
SUBJECT: IMPOUND CONTRACT INVESTIGATION
DATE: December 29, 1981
Attached, you will find Commander Jack Pratt's report to me
on the results of his vehicle impound contract investigation.
Jack is recommending Gary's Towing as the recipient of the bid
award. Primarily, this is because of two conditions• bid price,
and; high praise from Gary's regular customers, Towns Edge Ford,
Suburban Chev and several apartment building complexes.
It would seem that all other factors between the competing
bidders are fairly equal. Gary's does not currently have an
office connected with his storage lot, but he indicates that
an office is not at all that necessary.
Since his current customers are not having any problem with this
system, then perhaps there is less need for an office than we
earlier anticipated. If the main concerns for awarding the bid
are price and customer satisfaction, then I too must change my
recommendation to that of support for awarding the bid to Gary's
Towing.
z.
II lI! I I I til� III "I I I
TO:
FROM:
M E M O R A N D U M
Bill Craig, City Manager
Butch LaBerge, Police Supt.
SUBJECT: TOWING AND IMPOUND'S
CITY OF HOPKINS
1010 FIRST STREET SOUTH HOPKINS, MINNESOTA 55343 612/935 -8474
DATE: December 10, 1981
As you will see by the attached, Sgt. Cal Johnson has completed
a staff study on the subject of determining which of the three
towing companies that have bid on the City's work should receive
the bid award.
After completing his study, Sgt. Johnson was not comfortable with
recommending any particular one of the three companies. He told
me however, that if he had to make a decision, he would probably
choose Youngstedt Inc.
You should be aware of some recent correspondence within this
office that has contributed to Sgt. Johnson's decision. During the
last snow storm the Police Dept.- impounded approximately fifty
motor vehicles as snow birds. This was on November 19, 1981. At
about 9:00 a.m. that day, Sgt. Carroll Lund was at Crossroads 76
handling some impound problems (during 1981, the impounds were
taken care of by both Youngstedts and Crossroads 76). The manager
at Crossroads told Sgt. Lund that he had other business to take
care of at the Station and he woudn't be impounding any more
snowbirds that day. Youngstedts continued to impound snowbirds
and in fact Youngstedts had begun towing that day at least one
and one -half hours before Crossroads began, even though both
companies were notified at the same time.
By the time the impounding was completed for that day's plowing
operations, Youngstedt Inc. had towed exactly four times as many
vehicles as Crossroads.
While the Gary Schumacher bid is the lowest of the three bids
received, the fact that there is no office at the impound lot(s)
makes for some serious inconvenience potential.
2
Mr. Schumacher states that he has three part time employees who
carry pagers. When a tow is needed, the employee is paged. When
a car release is necessary, the same thing occurs. The problem
here is that the customer must first come to the police station
to get the release. Then the customer must wait for the police
dispatcher to contact the tow company employee (who must first
be paged by Mr. Schumacher), and theta rendevous is set up between
the customer and the employee; hopefully at the same leased lot
where the customer's car is being held.
This system is necessary because Mr. Schumacher does not have
an office associated with his impound lot(s). In addition, his
main storage area is not fenced (NAPCO).
RECOMMENDATION
The bid award should go to Youngstedts Inc. for the following
reasons:
1) Adequate storage that is secure and well lighted.
2) A sufficient number of tow trucks to accomodate our
needs for both routine daily impounding and for snow-
bird impounding as well, (seven).
3) The impound lot is centrally located within the City
and is run from a clean, well- lighted business office.
4) In the past 12 months in which Youngstedts has handled
police tows, the Police Department has not received
one single complaint about them.
5) $26 per tow and $4 per day storage is not unreasonable.
In fact, Mr. Richard Kellogg of Kellogg's Towing in
Bloomington states that that figure would be considered
on the low end of the current scale Graham's in
Minneapolis charges $32 per tow. Mr. Kellogg went on to
state that the current average is $29 to $33 and $4 to
$4.75 per day storage in the metro area.
In considering bids for service of this nature, the price should
be only one of several considerations. Security, convenience and
reputation should also be considered. In fact, these other consi-
derations should carry more weight than cost.
d Opening, 12 -9 -81, 10:00 a.m.
TABULATION OF BIDS FOR TOWING AND IMPOUND
BIDDER
Gary's Towing
610 -12th Ave. So.
Youngstedt's
314 Excelsior Ave. W.
Crossroads
Highway #7
CITY OF HOPKINS
MINNESOTA
AMOUNT
Capacity 75
$22.50 towing
$4.00 /day -lst day free
5 vehicles towing
Capacity 100
$26.00 $4.00 /day
7 vehicles
Capacity 50
$26.00 $4.00 /day
2 vehicles
DATE: December 10, 1981
TO: Chief Ovide LaBerge
FROM: Sergeant C. C. Johnson
I. SUBJECT
Determine the assets and liabilities of the three (3) tow companies that have
bid for the 1982 towing and impound service.
II. ASSUMPTIONS
A. One tow company may have better equipment than another.
B. One tow company may have a safer storage area than another.
C. One tow company may be faster to respond to the scene of an accident,
D.U.I. arrest, or snowplowing impound.
III. FACTS BEARING ON THE PROBLEM
A. Gary Schumacher's bid is lowest at $22.50 per tow with the first day of
storage free.
1. He has,a fenced -in area th t he says will fold seventy -five (75) cars.
Of est would be g e r R s o daP5
2. When viewed by me on 12 -9 -81, there w as space left in his lot for about
twenty (20) cars.
3. The only light for this lot is on the west wall of the building to
the north.
4. Gary Schumacher has stored his impounds at this location for the past
three to four years.
5. He stores cars there that are repossessions, abandoned autos left in
the parking lots at Ramsgate, Westside Village, and Westbrooke.
6. He told me he has three (3) part time drivers and that all have pagers.
He says there will be someone available 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. His home in in St. Louis Park about 1 1/2 miles from our north-
east border.
7. See pictures 1 and 2 on attached sheet.
B. Youngstedts bid is $3.50 higher than Schumacher's.
1. Youngstedt's lot is fenced -in except for about 200 feet on the southwest
lot line. That fence has been trampled down over the years and there is
one area where there is no fence at all. This no fence area is about
12 feet long.
2. Youngstedt's appears to have space for one hundred (100) to one hundred
and fifty (150) cars, which appears to the naked eye to be four times
more than Schumacher or Crossroads have.
3, They have three floodlights on the north side of their buildln9 that
shine toward their impounds.
Decc.,be 10, 1981
Page 2
4. His bid sheet shows seven (7) tow trucks available.
5. Youngstedt's garage is open 0700 to 2300 hours, Monday through Friday,
0800 to 1800 hours on Saturday, and closed on Sunday.
6. See picture 3 on attached sheet.
C. Crossroads 76 bid is the same as Youngstedt's.
1. Crossroads 76 has a fenced -in storage area that holds about fifteen (15)
cars. They also have an outside storage area to the north for twenty (20)
to forty (40) cars.
2. They have one small light bulb over their north door that goes into the
storage area.
3. His bid sheet shows only two (2) trucks available.
4. Crossroads 76 is open 0700 to 2200 hours, Monday through Friday, 0700
to 2000 hours on Saturday, and 0900 to 1700 hours on Sunday.
5. Crossroads 76 has done the towing and impounding for us for the last
twenty years or so. They have been dependable most of the time. They
have had slow response times, occasionally, the past three to five years
at night.
6. See picture 4 on attached sheet.
IV. DISCUSSION
A. The police do not pay for the impounding of vehicles on D.U.I. arrests,
accidents, or snowplowing tows. The owner of the vehicle or his insurance
company pays this.
B. The police are concerned for the most part, in fast response time to accidents,
D.U.I. arrests, and snowplowing tows.
C. Youngstedt's bid shows seven (7) tow trucks available. He has service stations
in Minnetonka and St. Louis Park. Larry Youngstedt told me he has two (2) tow
trucks at 314 West Excelsior, two (2) at the service station at 11th Avenue and
County Road 3, one (1) floater, and one (1) each in Minnetonka and St. Louis Park.
He further stated that he may have room for two hundred (200) to three hundred
(300) cars at 314 West Excelsior. He also said he plans to improve his fence
at the southwest lot line.
D. There could be a problem aesthetically with alot of hunkers sitting at
Youngstedt's because they are so easily seen as one drives on County Road 3,
and especially from the new County Road 18 bridge.
E. Gary Schumacher is an unknown quantity at this time. Laun Anderson has had
dealings with Schumacher and has found him dependable.
V. CONCLUSIONS
A. Youngstedt's has the most tow trucks and space available.
B. Gary Schumacher has limited space but could possibly handle our D.U.I. and
accident tows. He can not handle the snowplowing tows because of lack of
storage.
December 10, 1981
Page 3
C. Youngstedt's and Crossroads 76 are more accessible to us and to the person
whose vehicle is impounded.
D. The police are concerned with fast and reliable service.
VI. ACTION RECOMMENDED
None.
See attached pictures and copies of bids.
CITY OF HOPKINS
1010 FIRST STREET SOUTH HOPKINS, MINNESOTA 55343 612/935-8474
TO: Superintendent LaBerge
FROM: Commander Pratt
DATE: December 28, 1981
SUBJECT: Towing Contract Investigation
At the request of City Manager Craig, I have investigated further into the three firms
who have submitted bids to the City of Hopkins for the towing contract.
In regard to Crossroads Union 76 and the complaint that was made at the last council
meeting, I have learned the following. It was alledged by Crossroads Union 76 that
while they were towing a vehicle off of the street, a man came out of one of the
houses and threatened their tow driver with a baseball bat. It was alledged that this
incident was one of the reasons why Crossroads discontinued towing on that particular
snow emergency day. According to Crossroads, the Hopkins Police Department did not
have an officer on the scene and did not have an offical printed impound slip attached
to the vehicle that was to be towed, thus resulting in the "improper" method that
Hopkins Police was using to handle the paperwork on the snowbirds. In reality, the
police had started impounding vehicles at about 3:00 a.m., starting with 5th Avenue
and proceeding west. In an effort to attempt to speed up the operation and not tie
up police officers at the scene while waiting for the tow trucks to arrive, an officer
or public safety officer was assigned to Crossroads Union 76 Station Impound Lot to do
the paperwork on the vehicles as they were brought in.
On the morning of 12- 28 -81, I talked to a Mr. Jerry Huffender who owns his station
at Baker Road and Excelsior Avenue in the City of Minnetonka. Mr. Huffender was the
person who was directly involved in this alledged assault with the baseball bat during
the recent snow emergency. Mr. Huffender had been employed by the Crossroads Union 76
station to assist them during the snow emergency. He used his own tow truck and had
towed approximately seven vehicles since 3:00 in the morning. Mr. Huffender thought
it was approximately 6:30 in the morning when he was somewhere on one of the streets
west of 12th Avenue North in Hopkins about to tow one of three cars parked in front of
a residence. Mr. Huffender is unable to recall which street this occurred on and stated
that he probably could not even recognize which house it was if he was to go back there.
Mr. Huffender stated that he had not hooked up to any of the vehicles when a man came
out of the house and demanded to know what was going on. Huffender reported that it was
a snow emergency and he was towing vehicles off the street for the Hopkins Police Department.
The man told Huffender that if he touched any of the three cars out in front that he would
go into the house and get a bat and re- arrange his face. Mr. Huffender stated that this
is something that tow truck drivers get use to and if the man would move the three cars
he would be more than happy not to have to tow them. The man went back in the house and
Towing Contract Investigation
Page 2
Mr. Huffender continued up the road and towed another vehicle. In checking back he
found that the man had moved all three vehicles off of the street and that was the end
of the incident. There was no physical contact involved nor was there any bat displayed
at the scene.
Referring back to the towing contract, I find the following:
Lots
They appear to be about the same in size. They're fenced with varying degrees of
security and they are all located within the corporate city limits of the City of
Hopkins. All three bidders for the contract lease property for their impound yards
and they all appear to have auxiliary storage lots available to them if needed for
the occasional snow storms when a snow emergency would exsist and they would have
excess vehicles. Youngstedt's has the largest physical area for storage, followed
by Gary's Towing, and then Union 76. All lots have various degrees of lighting.
Trucks
Bidders seem to have about the same amount of tow trucks available to them and appear
to all have access to additional trucks through associates. The vehicles are apparently
mechanically sound and have varying degrees of condition. Some are newly painted, some
are re- painted, some are brand new, some have adjustable hoists, but all are basically
tow trucks.
Dispatching
All bidders have phone numbers that they can be reached both day and night. Some have
pagers and radioed controlled vehicles.
Release of Impounded Vehicles
Youngstedt's and Crossroads Union 76 have physical buildings in which the customers can
come to during daylight hours to pick up their cars. Most customers pay by check and
some in cash which does not necessarily mean that they need a warm building with a
cash register in order to conduct their business. If customers were to have their
vehicles released on Holidays or non business type hours they would still have to
contact any of the bidders to make arrangements to get their vehicle out of the impound
lot and make arrangements for payment. This would be done by the dispatcher or
through pagers the same way that the Police would have to request the tow initially.
In most cases the customer would take care of this release procedure on their own.
Location
All lots are physically located within the corporate city limits of Hopkins and it
is questionable whether a physical location would make any difference to a customer
who may live on the other end of town from any of the lots.
Towing Contract Investigation
Page 3
Training
It appears that all of the bidders train their drivers and tow truck operators
in about the same method. It is a hands on job training supplemented by short
seminars conducted by triple AAA tow equipment salesmen, and by periodicals.
Insurance
All three bidders have various amounts of liability insurance for their lots and
their equipment and have additional riders for vehicles that they would be towing.
It is my recommendation after investigating these three firms who would like to
contract with the City of Hopkins for impound towing that Gary's Towing be given
the contract. My reasoning for this recommendation is that Gary's Towing is the
lowest bidder of the three, his only business is towing of vehicles, and from a
Police Department's standpoint I feel his day -to -day towing for Police impounds
on DUI's, accidents and so on would be more efficient and prompt.
I have checked with Town's Edge Ford and Suburban Chevrolet who use Gary's
Towing almost exclusively and have so for the past few years. They recommend
Gary's Towing highly as to promptness and dependability at any time of the day
or night, Holidays included and has always been tops with them as far as public
relations and willingness to be flexible in dealing both with them and their
customer. I have also checked with two of the companies in Hopkins who have
used Gary's Towing for repossessions of vehicles and they both recommend them
highly. They state that he is always prompt and efficient and will come out
any time of the day or night and have found him to be honest.
I have checked with some of the apartment complexes in Hopkins who have used
Gary's Towing now and in the past and they have nothing but high praise for
Gary's Towing. They say that he is prompt, they have had no problems and is
great with customer relations. One complex resident manager uses Gary's Towing
almost exclusively because of his dependability. Another apartment complex
manager stated that she always got very prompt service with Gary's Towing and
he was very public relations minded. He even took people down to their cars
in his impound lot. Another apartment complex manager that I talked to stated
that they used Youngstedt's for the past two years because they felt that Gary's
Towing did not have any place local to store impounded autos. They thought that
the lot was located on 494 Co. Rd. 18 somewhere in Eden Prairie. They have
not had any problems with Youngstedt's other than they did express that they
were slow in responding to their needs. After I informed them that Gary's Towing
had an impound lot in Hopkins the resident manager stated that she would probably
start using Gary's Towing more because he was very dependable, honest and
extremely prompt. She could not recall ever having an impounded customer
complain about Gary's Towing as to damage to the vehicle or anything missing
from the cars. She also reported that she had high praise for Gary's Towing
although she thought he was always grungy looking. She then added that she
did not care what he looked like as long as he got the cars out of the lot for
her.
Towing Contract Investigation
Page 4
Gary Schumacher in an interview stated that he had been towing for about eight
years and had decided to place his impound lot in Hopkins because that was
where he was doing most of his business. He has been struggling to get his
business established and expressed concerns that he would not get the towing
contract for the City of Hopkins because he did not have a fancy office building
or brand new trucks. He stated that he was considering the purchase of a watch
dog for the impound lot which to him seemed to be more realistic then having a
large unoccupied building on evenings and weekends from a security standpoint.
Again, I would emphasize that my recommendation to give Gary's Towing the
contract is based upon my primarily concern for the needs of the Police Dept.
and the fact that he is the lowest bidder which would result in savings to
our customers.
c
The undersigned hereby bids to provide 1982 towing and impound
service in conformance with Section 1035 of the City Code of Hopkins,
which will be part of the contract by reference. The undersigned
states that a fenced yard or structure with a capacity of 757
vehicles will be used as n impound yard, at the following location:
4/ )1 2)
The price bid for towin a pas- car or light truck (capacity not
exceeding one ton):
Storage charge, per day:
The undersigned affirms that it has 54 vehic es, and that personnel
are on call 24 hours per day to provide service. Unreliable service
will be considered a breach of contract.
OPTION A: If a prospective bidder does not have a suitable impound
yard or building, but wishes to be considered for emergency
or snow removal towing only, the following blanks should be
Telephone Number
‘f.rn1'
completed:
TOWING AND IMPOUND BID SHEET
A o
24 Hr. phone number (if different)
/11'
Tow Charge $81
11 of Tow Trucks l
The undersigned hereby bids to provide 1982 towing and impound
service in conformance with Section 1035 of the City Code of Hopkins,
which will be part of the contract by reference. The undersigned
states that a fenced yard or structure with a capacity of
vehicles will be used as an impound yard, at the following location:
The price bid for towing a passenger car or light truck (capacity not
exceeding one ton):
Storage charge, per day:
The undersigned affirms that it has °2 vehicles, and that personnel
are on call 24 hours per day to provide service. Unreliable service
will be considered a breach of contract.
OPTION A: If a prospective bidder does not have a suitable impound
yard or building, but wishes to be considered for emergency
or snow removal towing only, the following blanks should be
completed:
Yr-
777,
gnature of Bidder
l ahns Li -xi a
Name of Firm
/b2'6 #1 A/ #7
Address of Firm
9 3 8— 9
Telephone Number
24 Hr. phone number (if different)
TOWING AND IMPOUND BID SHEET
of Tow Trucks
935 .166 q33
Tow Charge
TOWING AND IMPOUND BID SHEET
The undersigned hereby bids to provide 1982 towing and impound
service in conformance with Section 1035 of the City Code of Hopkins,
which will be part of the contract by reference. The undersigned
states that a fenced yard or structure with a capacity of
vehicles will be used as an impound yard, at the following location:
314 Excelsior Ave. W. Hopkins
The price bid for towing a passenger car or light truck (capacity not
exceeding one ton):
0.
Storage charge, per day: 144 'e
The undersigned affirms that it has
are on call 24 hours per day to provide service. Unreliable service
will be considered a breach of contract.
OPTION A: If a prospective bidder does not have a suitable impound
yard or building, but wishes to be considered for emergency
or snow removal towing only, the following blanks should be
completed:
Sign -ture of Bidder
Youngstedts Inc.
Name of Firm
314 Excelsior Ave. W.
Address of Firm
933 -1322
Telephone Number
933 -1322
24 Hr. phone number (if different)
Larry Youngstedt Home Phone 474 -5065
Dave Eastling Home Phone 933 -0254
7
Tow Charge
of Tow Trucks
100
vehicles, and that personnel