Residents press council for ownership disclosures and Brown Act compliance in tow contract review

Several members of the public told council the process needed more transparency and that specific documentary disclosures should be required before awarding long-term towing contracts.

Alicia Morrison urged the council to set the item aside, invoking state open-meeting rules: "I am requesting this item be set aside until the tow committee is complying with the Brown Act according to California law," she said, pressing for committee minutes and public notice of membership and filings.

Other speakers asked staff to obtain and publish ownership and shareholder lists for the two proposed contractors and raised prior news reports and litigation as reasons to disclose financial relationships before the city signs contracts. Mica Polanco asked the city to obtain ownership information for Cortez and Tony's and release it publicly "before any award of the proposed towing company contracts are given."

City staff and the city attorney said the ad hoc working group was an internal, staff-formed working group (not a permanent Brown Act body) and that staff had already examined public records and found no overlapping ownership among the named finalists; nevertheless council asked staff to return with any additional ownership or legal-history documentation requested by council members.