That the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager to execute a five-year non-exclusive agreement between the City of La Habra (City) and Graham's Tow Inc. to provide a full range of tow services for vehicles and a secure location to store vehicles that have been towed, stored, or impounded at the direction of the City.

On a regular basis, various City Departments, including the Police Department, require the services of a towing company and vehicle storage facility for towed or impounded vehicles.  The City currently contracts for these services rather than operate its own towing service and storage facility.  For approximately 25 years, the City has contracted these services to Graham's Tow, which operates a tow facility and storage yard in the City of La Habra. During this time, Graham's Tow has provided consistently reliable, high quality service to the City, and the City has not had any cause to initiate corrective actions against Graham's Tow.

The City's tow service contract with Graham’s Tow Inc. is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2021.  Staff has researched the practices of surrounding cities as they relate to contracted tow services and found that towing contracts generally include fee schedules that identify various classes of towing, types of storage, clean-up fees, release fees, and additional services. Based on a review of service rates paid by surrounding cities, staff has negotiated a “Class A” hourly tow fee of $180 and an outside storage of $50 per day with Graham’s Tow Inc., which represents an increase from the previous contract of $140 for “Class A” hourly tow and $40 outside storage. The fee increase is a result of the company's increased operating costs, which includes several consecutive years of increases in the State mandated minimum wage; however, the proposed fees are still below the market average, as well as below California Highway Patrol (CHP) annual average for similar towing service, which is currently approximately $240 for “Class A” hourly tow and $60 for outside storage. The annual average fee for similar towing services in the cities surrounding the City of La Habra is approximately $192 for "Class A" hourly tow.

The City continues to receive exceptional customer service from Graham’s Tow Inc. and the company has demonstrated a strong and active relationship in the community, partnering with local businesses and nonprofit organizations on local events and programs.  Equally important is that Graham's Tow Inc is locally owned and operated, and maintains a vehicle storage yard within City limits so that in the event a resident's or business owner's vehicle is towed, stored, or impounded, it can be conveniently accessed and retrieved from the storage facility, located at 1501 East Lambert Road, once the vehicle has been released by the Police Department.

There is no fiscal impact as the City does not receive revenue through the tow service agreement, nor does the City pay to have vehicles towed or impounded.

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