Detroit council to vote on controversial police towing contract

Small firms alleged cronyism in fight over police proposal

George Hunter/ The Detroit News

Detroit — The City Council is set to vote on a contract proposal that has rekindled the long-running battle over the Police Department's towing operations.

The city's Purchasing Department last month approved a proposal for San Francisco-based AutoReturn LLC to manage police towing. The council must approve the plan, but no date has been set for the vote.

A similar request for proposal put out by the Purchasing Department last year came under fire from smaller towers, who alleged that officials had rigged the process so AutoReturn would get the contract.

"Here we go again," said Phyllis Hernandez, owner of Casino Towing, one of the dozens of towers that complained to the city last year. "The city keeps trying to pull a fast one and slip this company in."

When AutoReturn opened a Detroit subsidiary last year, David Baker Lewis, an adviser to Mayor Dave Bing, was listed as the company's agent. Police Chief Ralph Godbee also worked as a consultant to the firm when he left the police department briefly in 2008.

"This is the kind of cronyism that's been going on for years," Hernandez said. "There are millions upon millions of dollars to be made with this, which is why the city keeps cutting the little guy out."

The former chairman of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, the Rev. Jerome Warfield, wrote to the council in September 2010, expressing concerns that the city had sent out the request for proposal without properly informing the board. A few days after Warfield's letter, the Purchasing Department pulled the request.

Warfield, whose chairmanship expired, cannot speak further about the issue since only the chairman may speak for the commission. Current chairman Donnell White was out of town Thursday at a law enforcement conference and could not be reached for comment.

Council members Gary Brown and JoAnn Watson declined to discuss the issue; other members did not return calls.

Bing spokesman Dan Lijana said AutoReturn was picked because its bid was the lowest.

"(Proposals) were picked strictly based on numbers," Lijana said. "Factors like (ties to the mayor and police chief) aren't considered … it's a matter of who has the lowest bid."

ghunter@detnews.com

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