The National City Council has postponed awarding new towing and impound contracts, voting instead to extend its current agreements and revisit the matter in November after council members raised questions about the two recommended companies, including one that was previously suspended by the city of San Diego.
The council voted 4-1 on a substitute motion to bring the item back Nov. 17, with Vice Mayor Luz Molina opposed. The city’s existing contracts with Road One Towing and Angelo’s Towing expire Sept. 30, so the council must hold a special meeting before Oct. 1 to approve extensions.
A city working group of police, finance, legal and administrative staff had recommended three-year contracts with Cortes Towing Enterprises Inc. of San Diego and Tony’s Auto Center Inc. of Chula Vista, according to a staff report. The two ranked first and second among five bidders found to meet requirements, out of seven that applied.
Under the proposed contracts, the basic tow fee would be $200. The city would collect $150,328 a year in towing program fees, paid equally by the two companies, the report states.
Much of the discussion centered on Cortes. Councilmember Marcus Bush read from a Sept. 19, 2025, letter from the city of San Diego. The letter identified roughly $279,000 in unpaid invoices and stated the company had not fulfilled its obligations.
Owner Johnny Cortes said his office staff had paid towing invoices but not storage invoices.
“That was a clerical mistake on our part and San Diego’s part,” Cortes said. He said he let go of the employee responsible, that payments are now sent electronically and that the suspension lasted “two, three months.”
“Right now, we still have a contract with the City of San Diego,” Cortes said.
Sgt. Scott Shanahan, who conducted site inspections and reference checks, said a San Diego police tow administrator told him Cortes had payment issues that were later corrected.
“He didn’t say anything about a suspension or how much money was owed,” Shanahan said.
Mayor Ron Morrison said staff should have included the suspension in its report. He said the same applied to Tony’s withdrawal from a San Diego contract in 2023 and to a federal action involving vehicles belonging to deployed service members.
“A number of things have been brought out that didn’t get disclosed to us by staff,” Morrison said. “There may be good answers for all of that, but that stuff should be disclosed.”
A Tony’s representative said the company left the San Diego contract because abandoned motor homes filled its lot. The representative said Tony’s now operates two larger lots.
Morrison also noted that the recommended firms are the two smallest bidders by equipment, while the incumbents drew “basically no complaints at all” over about 12 years. The staff report lists eight Cortes trucks and about 10 Tony’s trucks available to the city.
Angelo’s was disqualified for failing to submit fully executed California Highway Patrol truck inspection forms. Ron Lacey, representing the company, said the forms had been signed by CHP in April and May, but staff requested them from the wrong employee.
“My error was in not knowing the forms specifically,” Lacey said.
Shanahan said the forms Angelo’s later emailed had been signed by a company employee and dated the day proposals were due. Romero said Angelo’s was the only bidder that did not provide the forms or an explanation, and “you don’t accept documentation after the fact.”
City Manager Doug Schulze defended the evaluation, which was scored by eight working group members.
“Every towing contract ends up with this type of conversation,” Schulze said. “It was a fair process. It was an objective process.”
Councilmember Ditas Yamani’s initial motion to adopt the staff recommendation died for lack of a second. Molina later seconded it when it was restated, but Bush then offered the substitute motion. Bush said the concerns raised about Cortes and Tony’s had been resolved. Bush asked staff to return with outstanding answers to concerns the council had raised.
Molina opposed the delay.
“It just sounds to me like a lot of additional work, that we’re going to end up arriving at the same decision,” Molina said.
Schulze warned that the extensions depend on the council convening in time.
“If we cannot get a quorum to take action on extending the contracts, we are going to be without towing contracts and that can’t happen,” he said.