This chapter's purpose is to:
A. 
Provide the public and the city's police department with prompt, safe, reliable, and responsive vehicle towing and storage services by:
1. 
Establishing official police tow services,
2. 
Contracting with private-sector tow companies, and
3. 
Setting minimum performance standards to ensure quality service;
B. 
Create a fair and an impartial means for selecting official police tow services; and
C. 
Establish a fee equal to the city's actual, reasonable administrative costs and expenses for administering the official police tow services providers' contract and operating a towing program on the public's behalf.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
The city council finds, determines and declares that:
A. 
The city needs the services of one or more privately-owned tow companies to:
1. 
Effectively enforce parking and traffic laws;
2. 
Promptly tow vehicles that are inoperative or involved in a collision; and
3. 
Expeditiously remove and safely store vehicles that the police department impounds or holds for investigation, examination, or evidence.
B. 
This council's experience in awarding city contracts by using competitive procedures has proven successful and has delivered high-quality, responsive and dependable services to the community. It is now in the city's best interests to award one or more official police tow services contracts through a competitive process.
C. 
Establishing three service areas, or "Districts," within which one official police tow services provider will operate:
1. 
Is sufficient to provide a high level of service at the present time;
2. 
Contributes to the efficient administration of the city's towing program;
3. 
Ensures safe and prompt towing service on an emergency basis; and
4. 
Assures that an official police tow services provider receives ample income to adequately maintain equipment, personnel and service levels to the public.
D. 
California Vehicle Code section 12110(b) allows the city to charge a fee for awarding a private company the special privilege and exclusive right of towing vehicles on the city's behalf. Under that provision, the city may recover its actual and reasonable administrative costs related to its operating a towing program.
E. 
As part of a study of the police department's costs in using private contractors to provide vehicle towing, storage and roadside assistance to the public, the city's internal audit department determined that when the police department contracts with private tow companies to provide public assistance, the city incurs substantial labor costs and administrative expenses, including, but not limited to:
1. 
Monitoring the tow company's compliance with the contract's service requirements;
2. 
Notifying the tow company of its non-compliance with a contract provision;
3. 
Enforcing the contract's terms; and
4. 
Reviewing and resolving customer service issues.
F. 
Therefore, creating a vehicle towing administrative cost recovery fee and requiring the private tow company to pay it are appropriate means for recovering the city's costs and expenses for administering the contracts with the private towing firms, operating the vehicle towing program and ensuring that the general public does not shoulder the burden of paying those costs.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
For purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases have the meanings ascribed to them unless the context otherwise requires:
"Non-consensual vehicle towing"
means towing service:
1. 
Ordered or requested by the city's police department, park rangers or other city employees who are duly authorized by law to remove, impound or store vehicles; or
2. 
Done without the vehicle owner's or operator's knowledge, consent or authorization, regardless of whether the vehicle is on public or private property. Examples include, but are not limited to, when an owner or an operator:
a. 
Is arrested, detained, incapacitated, or physically unable to drive the vehicle, or
b. 
Fails to either designate or express a preference for a particular towing company.
"Official police tow services provider"
means a person who:
1. 
Has a written contract with the city's police department or another city department;
2. 
Furnishes an owner or an operator with towing service; and
3. 
Is authorized in the city's contract to collect from an owner or an operator any one or more of the charges that are listed in the contract's "Schedule of Rates and Charges for the City of Glendale's Official Police Tow Services" for providing towing service.
"Operator"
means a person who is lawfully entitled to possession of a vehicle. The term includes the operator's agent.
"Owner"
has the same meaning as that term is defined in Vehicle Code section 460, or any successor legislation. The term includes the owner's agent.
"Person"
means an individual, company, firm, association, trust, estate, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or an entity, however organized.
"Towed"
means a vehicle hauled, pulled or transported by another vehicle equipped with a crane, hoist, winch, dolly, roll-back carrier, trailer or similar equipment.
"Towing service"
means roadside assistance, towing, storing, lien-selling or related operation for a damaged, inoperative, abandoned, stolen, recovered, or illegally parked vehicle.
"Vehicle"
has the same meaning as that term is defined in California Vehicle Code section 670, or any successor legislation.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
The city establishes three areas, or "Districts," within which one official police tow services provider will operate.
B. 
After giving an official police tow services provider 30 days' advance written notice, the city may change or alter a District or Districts at any time during the term of the official police tow services provider's contract with the city, in any one or more of the following ways:
1. 
Enlarge, reduce or redraw a district's boundaries; or
2. 
Increase or decrease the number of districts.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
Using an open, competitive process, the city council shall select a person to serve as an official police tow services provider. The chief of police shall prepare a request for proposals which, at a minimum, must include:
1. 
Specifications, terms, conditions and minimum performance standards for towing service; and
2. 
The procedures and standards for evaluating proposals and selecting an official police tow services provider.
B. 
By resolution, the city council shall adopt the request for proposals and authorize the city clerk to advertise for proposals.
C. 
In evaluating a proposal, the city council may consider all relevant facts or information, including any one or more of the following criteria:
1. 
Demonstrated financial strength including, but not limited to, the proposer's:
a. 
Current facilities, equipment, and personnel,
b. 
Capability of securing financing for facilities, equipment, personnel, or other resources,
c. 
Credit worthiness;
2. 
Quality of the proposer's existing or proposed facilities, equipment and personnel;
3. 
Demonstrated and successful completion of services of similar scope and size, including, but not limited to:
a. 
Years of experience that the proposer has an official police tow services provider or a municipal service provider,
b. 
Timeliness of performance,
c. 
Customer satisfaction or complaints;
4. 
Other cities' and clients' evaluations of the proposer's prior or current services;
5. 
Demonstrated safety record for the proposer's tow vehicles and employees; or
6. 
Degree to which the proposer ascertained and addressed this city's needs and priorities.
D. 
By resolution, the city council shall award a contract to a person whom the city council determines is the most qualified to serve as an official police tow services provider.
E. 
When it best serves the city's interests, the city council may do any one or more of the following:
1. 
Reject all proposals;
2. 
Amend, cancel or reissue a request for proposals;
3. 
Extend the deadline for accepting proposals; or
4. 
Establish and operate its own municipal towing service, or storage lot, or both.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
An official police tow services provider shall enter into a written contract with the city.
B. 
The chief of police shall establish, amend and enforce the contract's terms and conditions. The contract, in a form that the city attorney approves, must include at least the following provisions:
1. 
A description of the District's boundaries;
2. 
Minimum requirements and performance standards for equipment, facilities, personnel and services;
3. 
Procedures for handling and protecting vehicles in the official police tow services provider's care, custody, or control;
4. 
Conditions for releasing vehicles;
5. 
Maximum allowable rates and charges;
6. 
An indemnification provision satisfactory to the city attorney;
7. 
Minimum insurance coverages and amounts, satisfactory to the city's risk manager or the city attorney;
8. 
The term of the contract and grounds for its suspension, termination, or cancellation.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
Except as the official police tow services provider's contract or the law provides, an official police tow services provider shall not receive any compensation from the city for providing or performing non-consensual vehicle towing. An official police tow services provider will receive compensation for providing or performing towing service by its collecting from an owner or an operator any one or more of the fees and charges that are listed in the contract's "Schedule of Rates and Charges for the City of Glendale's Official Police Tow Services."
B. 
In place of the city's paying compensation and in exchange for the official police tow services provider's services, the city grants the official police tow services provider, during the contract's term, the special privilege and exclusive right of:
1. 
Identifying itself as one of the city's "official police tow services";
2. 
Operating within a designated District;
3. 
Receiving the police department's calls for service; and
4. 
Furnishing the public with non-consensual vehicle towing.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
An official police tow services provider shall:
1. 
Remit quarterly to the city, on the payment due date, the VTACR fee for each vehicle, during the preceding calendar quarter, which the official police tow services provider towed;
2. 
Disclose on the city's quarterly reporting form the total:
a. 
Number of vehicles, during the preceding calendar quarter, that the official police tow services provider:
(1) 
Towed,
(2) 
Towed and then lien sold, but the vehicle had an appraised value of less than $300 before the lien sale, and
(3) 
Towed and then lien sold, but received insufficient sale proceeds to pay the official police tow services provider's total charges and administrative costs,
b. 
Amount of the VTACR fee, during the preceding calendar quarter, that the official police tow services provider collected from the towed vehicles' owners and operators, and
c. 
Amount of the VTACR fee that the official police tow services provider is paying to the city;
3. 
Submit to the Director of Administrative Services:
a. 
A completed quarterly reporting form, signed under penalty of perjury by an officer of the official police tow services provider, and
b. 
The quarterly payment of the VTACR fee;
4. 
Pay the VTACR fee by business check, cash, certified check or money order; and
5. 
Remit the full amount of the VTACR fee when due and owing.
B. 
Paying the VTACR fee is an obligation that an official police tow services provider unconditionally owes the city. However, at its option, the official police tow services provider may charge a vehicle's owner or operator the VTACR fee:
1. 
Upon an official police tow services provider's request, an owner or an operator whose vehicle an official police tow services provider towed shall pay the full amount of the VTACR fee to the official police tow services provider; and
2. 
When an official police tow services provider collects the VTACR fee from an owner or an operator, the official police tow services provider shall hold each collected VTACR fee payment in trust for the city's account until the official police tow services provider remits the collected sum to the city.
C. 
Except as section 10.55.110 provides, an official police tow services provider shall not subtract, deduct or offset any amount from the VTACR fee for any reason, including the belief that any one or more of the VTACR fee payments may be subject to a counterclaim, setoff, deduction or defense. By paying the VTACR fee, an official police tow services provider does not waive any right or remedy that the official police tow services provider may have under the law or under its contract with the city.
D. 
The city may accept a check, cash payment or money order marked "payment in full," or words of similar effect, without the city's waiving its right to collect from an official police tow services provider the full amount of the VTACR fee that the official police tow services provider owes the city.
E. 
An official police tow services provider shall immediately remit the quarterly payment of the VTACR Fee and submit the quarterly reporting form to the director of administrative services upon the official tow services provider's closing its business, or its ceasing to exist, for any reason.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
An official police tow services provider shall not remit to the city the VTACR fee under section 10.55.100(A), for a vehicle that the official police tow services provider towed, under any of the following circumstances:
1. 
When the official police tow services provider lien sells the vehicle and:
a. 
The vehicle's appraised value is less than $300 before the lien sale, or
b. 
The lien sale proceeds are insufficient to pay the official police tow services provider's total charges and administrative costs; or
2. 
When the official police tow services provider does not collect the VTACR fee from an owner or an operator for a reason listed in subsection (B) of this section.
B. 
An official police services provider shall not collect from an owner or an operator the VTACR fee under section 10.55.100(B), for a vehicle that the official police tow services provider towed under any of the following circumstances:
1. 
When the vehicle was:
a. 
Reported stolen and recovered,
b. 
Driven or taken without the owner's or the operator's express or implied permission, and the vehicle was evidence of a crime, contained evidence of a crime or was part of a criminal investigation,
c. 
Impounded in error;
2. 
When a court orders a waiver of the VTACR fee;
3. 
When state law or this code exempts or excludes an owner or an operator from paying a VTACR fee.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
For a period of three years following its quarterly VTACR fee payment to the city, the official police tow services provider shall maintain true, accurate and correct written records that reflect:
1. 
The number of vehicles, during the preceding calendar quarter, that the official police tow services provider:
a. 
Towed,
b. 
Towed and then lien sold, but the vehicle had an appraised value of less than $300 before the lien sale, and
c. 
Towed and then lien sold, but received insufficient sale proceeds to pay the official police tow services provider's total charges and administrative costs;
2. 
The date and the amount of each VTACR fee payment that an official police tow services provider collected from the owner or operator whose vehicle the official police tow services provider towed; and
3. 
The name, address and telephone number of the person who paid the VTACR fee.
B. 
At any time, upon the city's request, an official police tow services provider shall furnish the chief of police, the director of administrative services or either one's designee, all documents, data, information and records concerning an official police tow services provider's calculation, collection, or payment of the VTACR fee.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
Upon the city's receipt of a quarterly VTACR fee payment or a VTACR fee reporting form, or both, the city reserves its right to review and contest the amount, sufficiency or accuracy of the payment, or the data or information on the reporting form, or both.
B. 
The city may audit an official police tow services provider's records to verify that an official police tow services provider properly calculated, collected, or paid the VTACR fee. If the result of the city's audit shows:
1. 
A VTACR fee underpayment of less than 5% of the full amount that an official police tow services provider actually owed or a VTACR overpayment, the city shall pay its own costs related to the audit.
2. 
A VTACR Fee underpayment of 5% or more of the full amount that an official police tow services provider actually owed, the official police tow services provider shall pay to the director of administrative services all of the following:
a. 
The full amount of the underpayment ("VTACR fee underpayment or shortfall") as determined by the city's audit;
b. 
An administrative cost recovery charge for the city's performing a VTACR fee payment audit ("VTACR audit charge"); and
c. 
A penalty assessment for the official police tow services provider's underpaying the VTACR fee ("VTACR penalty assessment fee").
3. 
A VTACR underpayment of 10% or more, the city may treat an official police tow services provider's VTACR fee underpayment as a default and a material breach upon which the city may immediately terminate or suspend the official tow services provider's contract or invoke another remedy that the contract or the law allows.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
An official police tow services provider shall pay to the director of administrative services a VTACR late payment fee, in the form of interest, under any one or more of the following circumstances:
A. 
When an official police tow services provider misses a VTACR fee payment or remits it more than 30 days beyond its payment due date;
B. 
When an official police tow services provider owes a VTACR fee underpayment or shortfall; or
C. 
When an official police tow services provider fails to pay the VTACR audit charge or the VTACR penalty assessment fee on or before its due date, as set forth in the city's written notice to an official police tow services provider, describing the audit result and listing the total VTACR fee underpayment or shortfall.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
By resolution, the city council shall establish or modify:
1. 
The amount or the rate of the fees and charges under this chapter, basing them on the actual and reasonable costs to the city, including administration and overhead, for administering the official police tow services providers' contract and operating the vehicle towing program; and
2. 
The payment date and delinquent payment date of the fees and charges under this chapter.
B. 
To reflect cost-of-living changes and to ensure that changing economic conditions do not impair the real value of the fees and charges under this chapter, on July 1 of each year the chief of police shall:
1. 
Review each fee and each charge; and
2. 
Adjust the fee, or the charge, or both:
a. 
Upward or downward by the same percentage increase or decrease, occurring during the previous 12 months, in the consumer price index for all urban consumers ("CPI-U") for the Los Angeles-Anaheim-Riverside Metropolitan Area (published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor), or applying a similar index if the CPI-U is not published or available, and
b. 
To the nearest one dollar ($1.00).
C. 
In addition to adjusting the fees and the charges for cost-of-living changes under section 10.55.150(B), the chief of police shall recommend, with the city manager's approval, that the city council revise the fees and the charges when a change in the cost of either administering the official police tow services providers' contract or operating the vehicle towing program makes the revision appropriate.
D. 
The chief of police may prepare, adopt, amend and enforce rules, regulations or procedures for calculating, collecting, paying and administering the fees and charges under this chapter.
E. 
A copy of the resolution establishing the current fees and charges under this chapter will remain on file and will be available for inspection in the police department.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)
A. 
The fees and charges under this chapter are in addition to any one or more of:
1. 
The charges, fees, or fines that an owner or an operator may owe the city under a California Vehicle Code provision, or Title 10 of this code, or both; or
2. 
The charges that an owner or an operator may owe an official police tow services provider under the "Schedule of Rates and Charges for the City of Glendale's Official Police Tow Services."
B. 
When a person fails, neglects or refuses to pay, collect or remit the VTACR fee under section 10.55.100(A) or 10.55.100(B), or when a person otherwise pays that fee but later cancels or stops payment on it and in either situation that fee's payment, collection or remittance is lawfully due or owing, the entire amount of the unpaid, uncollected or non-remitted VTACR fee constitutes a debt to the city by that person, from whom the city may recover in a civil action.
(Ord. 5391 § 1, 2004)