Council Delays Vote on Towing Contract : Politics: The mayor had bought a house from the head of the firm he endorsed for the pact. A councilman says this ‘has the appearance of impropriety.’

The Covina City Council has delayed voting on an exclusive towing contract with a company whose president sold his home last October to Mayor Chris Lancaster.

At last week’s meeting, Lancaster moved to award a contract to Bob Remy Automotive to tow vehicles for the Police Department. The contract would end a long-term association with a rival West Covina towing firm.

Lancaster withdrew the motion after Councilman Tom O’Leary suggested the mayor was showing favoritism.

“It has the appearance of impropriety,” O’Leary said. “The mayor closed escrow with an individual who is on the agenda to get a contract for towing service. It seems to be cronyism on the part of the council.”

After a lengthy debate, Lancaster said he would abstain from voting and requested that the item be delayed for a month, until all five council members were present. Councilman Henry Morgan, who initiated the request for an exclusive contract in February, was absent from last week’s meeting.

“It is obvious that (O’Leary) is trying to make it into a political issue because (Remy) sold me his house,” Lancaster said, adding that Remy’s tow service is the only one in Covina that meets law enforcement standards.

City Atty. Charles Vose said there was no conflict of interest because the house sale was handled by real estate agents. Also, he said, the city didn’t have to solicit bids for the towing service because no public funds are used. The service is paid for directly by the people whose cars are towed, Vose said.

Lancaster paid Remy $225,000 for the Henton Avenue home. According to county tax records, other houses in the neighborhood range from $114,000 to $225,000.

Blackard’s Towing of West Covina had the city towing business, on an informal basis, for more than 40 years. In 1987, Covina officials contracted with Blackard’s and Remy to alternate the service on a monthly basis.

Remy was a member of the city’s Planning Commission for three years; he resigned after he sold his house and moved to San Dimas last year. He also is a board member of the Chamber of Commerce and president of the Rotary Club.

At the Feb. 5 council meeting, Morgan suggested that towing service should be provided exclusively by a Covina company. The motion passed on a 3-0 vote. Lancaster and Councilwoman Chris Richardson were absent.

Since that vote, O’Leary said more than 50 people wrote the council and many more telephoned in support of Blackard’s. The company had served the city for more than 40 years without complaints and should be allowed to continue, O’Leary said.

But Lancaster said the issue is not “how wonderful Blackard’s service is, but an effort to treat a member of the business community fairly. The issue is to have a qualified tower in the city. We need to support business in the city.”

O’Leary saw it differently. “Blackard’s qualifies as a Covina business,” he said. “He has been a member of the business community for 46 years and has a business license. Numerous businesses that have operations in Covina are not located in Covina.”

Blackard’s Towing owner Harold Blackard said said he will wait for the outcome of next month’s vote. “After all these years and all at once I’m the outcast,” he said. “I didn’t deserve this type of treatment from the city.”