After heated discussion, council denies towing appeal

Amatisto told the council its decision was destroying small businesses like hers by taking away a significant portion of the towing work it had previously done.

“You guys are the people behind the city that should help us, not take away our business and our income and maybe make us close our doors,” Amatisto said. “I’m a woman-owned business. Aren’t you supposed to help women in business?”

For decades, Coos Bay used a revolving system for towing vehicles, Under that system, 9-1-1 dispatchers had a list of available tow companies, and when a vehicle needed to be towed, the dispatchers called the next company on the list. Under that format, all the companies were given the opportunity to do business with the city.

That changed a year ago when Police Chief Chris Chapanar asked the council to consider hiring only one company, and the city sent out a request for qualifications to choose the company. Based on the requirements of the RFQ, only Mast Brothers Towing qualified and was chosen as the sole towing company for a year.

Earlier this year, during a second round seeking a towing company, only Mast Brothers and North Bend Towing turned in RFQs. After review, only the Mast Brothers had the qualifications the city required and was chosen again.

The big hang up with North Bend Towing was a requirement to have indoor storage to hold all towed vehicles for 30 days. The indoor space must be secured and must be available for vehicle owners to visit to collect their belongings.

“What you ask of us is kind of impossible when you’re taking income away from us,” Amatisto said. “How am I going to go get a building, how am I going to go get property? Even if I did do that, would you guys even give it to me? I doubt it.

“There’s enough for everybody. It’s been like that for 50 years. There was always a rotation. You guys have got to do something. It’s going to kill us.”

Diane Rich was brought in to help Amatisto make her appeal, and she told the council it was violating federal Small Business Administration standards by not hiring North Bend Towing, since it was a woman-owned business. The SBA guidelines encourage government agencies to use businesses owned by women, minorities and veterans, when possible.

“Where does it say get the biggest company and give them all the business,” Rich asked. “You are supposed to break it down for small businesses to compete because we are capitalism. What capitalism does is feed the smallest first. What you are doing is Socialism, not capitalism, and I refuse to allow that to happen in my county.”

Rich said the city was violating the Federal Procurement Integrity Act or FAR and could face legal challenges by not including women-owned businesses in the process.

“You have created a monopolistic contract, you have violated the FAR,” Rich said. “What say you.”

City Attorney Nate McClintock responded, saying the city has every right to choose the vendor with all the qualifications.

“I’ve had the opportunity to review the appeal and listen to Ms. Rich’s speech,” McClintock said. “I wouldn’t dare contradict her on federal contract rules because she apparently is expert on that and I am not. The problem is the city of Coos Bay is not governed by the FAR or any other federal contract at this time. The city of Coos Bay has contract rules that are created by the state of Oregon.

“The bottom line is her premise the FAR applies to the city of Coos Bay is nil because we’re not contracting with a federal agency or department, and we’re not using federal funds. Looking over the application, it seems like every contest they have here is with FAR, and my recommendation is you deny the appeal.”

Before the council considered the issue, more than a dozen people spoke out in public comment, all of them opposed to the city’s decision to hire Mast Brothers. The speakers represented several different tow companies in the region.

Susan Taylor told the council it looked like a decision was made before it even heard the results of the RFQ at its previous meeting.

“It makes me so distrusting of our city government and what it’s doing,” Taylor said. “Just the good old boys club.”

Gayle Farrell told the council it should not be in the business of picking winners and losers.

“I was here last week, and heard the whole meeting from beginning to end,” she said. “I felt there was certain people who were favored and people who weren’t. There were winners and losers, and you’re picking them unfairly.”

One tow company owner said the city’s move immediately cut 25% of her business, and has made it difficult to just stay in business. Another said all he wants is a fair chance to succeed.

Robert Smith, who drives a tow truck, said his job helps people, and the city’s decision does not.

“I get to get up every day and work. I get to help people,” Smith said. “This is not helping the community, this is not helping people. You’re taking money out of my pocket, all because you want one company to save a couple minutes on dispatch time. Let’s just stay to the list.”

Councilor Lucinda DiNovo asked Chapanar to explain why the city wanted one company, and why Mast Brothers was the only one with the correct qualifications.

“One, it was response time, but mainly it was efficiency in our dispatch centers,” Chapanar said. “Our dispatchers were having difficulty contacting tow companies, looking for them to respond. Particularly about vehicles and motor homes, we were not only getting a delayed response, but we were getting refusals, multiple times.”

Chapanar said companies were refusing to tow for multiple reasons: the inability to tow due to equipment issues and shortage of staff.

In addition, the Legislature passed House Bill 3124 that required cities to hold towed vehicles for 30 days and make them available to owners, and many companies could not meet that requirement.

When the city decided to do an RFQ, it reached out to other cities and learned many were using sole companies. The RFQ Coos Bay put together was based on what was needed in the city. After evaluating the proposals returned, the chief recommended Mast Brothers in large part because it could tow and store many vehicles.

“You’re talking small businesses,” Chapanar said. “We’re a small police department as well. We have a small dispatch center. We dispatch for nine agencies, and we receive over 7,000 calls for service a month. We generally have two or three dispatchers. If we’re lucky, we have four on. Our dispatchers are just overworked and there’s an inability for them to pout someone on hold, wait for a tow company to say ‘we can’t take the call’ and start the process over. This would happen multiple times.”

Since the city went solely to Mast Brothers, Chapanar said the response time has been around 20 minutes, and there has not been a time where a second company was needed.

While Chapanar was speaking, Rich interrupted several times, forcing Mayor Joe Benetti to ask her to stop. A frustrated Rich eventually got up and walked off.

When the council began discussing the issue, all those present said they were empathetic, but they felt the process the city used was fair.

Councilor Drew Farmer said his career in business has shown him that a company that meets the requirements deserves to get the business.

Benetti had similar thoughts,

“Tina, when you were up here two weeks ago, I asked if you met the RFQ, and you said no,” Benetti said.

As the council was discussing the issue, those in the crowd repeatedly interrupted, disagreeing with statements being made.

“We listened to your comments, now we’re asking the questions,” Benetti said. “If you’re not happy with the process, you can leave. This is not a debate.”

Councilor Stephanie Kilmer said she understands the challenges women in business have, and she feels for all small businesses trying to survive.

“I agree we should attempt to help all our businesses in the community,” Kilmer said. “I do want you to know this is a hard decision but because of the information that was provided to council, that was a decision we made.”

DiNovo had similar thoughts.

“I think it’s different when we’re in the situation where comments are being made that it’s a good old boys club and we’re not being equitable,” DiNovo said. “Especially when it’s two women, and one on line (Sara Stephens). Where I struggle is we are trying to do what’s best for the city. We’re trying to do it for the response time and all the things that were mentioned a year ago and tonight. For me the decision was made because we have limited funds, and we’re trying to be responsible. That’s why we went with one company.”

After the discussion, Farmer made a motion to deny the appeal and DiNovo seconded it. The vote passed 5-0 with Councilors Rob Miles and Carmen Matthews absent.