HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/15/2002 - STAFF REPORTS (11) DATE: May 15, 2002
TO: City Council
FROM: Safety, Special Programs & Enforcement Manager via
Director of Procurement & Contracting
AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT#3871 WITH ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that City Council approve amending Agreement#3871, in a form
acceptable to the City Attorney,between Enforcement Technology, Inc.and the City
of Palm Springs to include expanded collection services for unpaid parking citations.
SUMMARY:
Agreement#3871, as approved by City Council on November 2, 1997, establishes
procedures and rates for the: collection of unpaid parking citations. Currently, the
database of open citations reflects 5,774 items with an unpaid balance of
$278,439.70. The agreement allows for expanded collection services based on a
fee of 35% of collected revenue with a signed letter agreement.
BACKGROUND:
The procedure currently in effect for the collection of unpaid parking citations is to
mail to the violator, on the 21" day after the date of the citation, a "Notice of
Outstanding Parking Violation."The notice informs the recipient that failure to pay
the bail amount before the"due date"will result in the assessment of a penalty and
notification to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)of said failure and will result
in the withholding of the vehicle registration renewal. This procedure results in a
success rate of approximately 10% - 15% and costs the City$0.25 plus postage for
each notice sent. There is a $3.00 charge for each DMV notification, which results
in the collection of another 5% - 10% of unpaid citations.
The agreement allows the issuance of additional"late notices"at specified intervals
(usually 10 days), each at the same cost as the original notice. Each of these
notices establishes an additional penalty in the range of$10.00. Cities contracting
with Enforcement Technology that utilize the additional notices average a 20% -
30% overall collection rate.
An alternative to the additional notices is to execute a letter agreement to utilize
AutoCOLLECT, a new comprehensive collection service offered by Enforcement
Technology. This service employs a midwest-based professional account
management agency that achieves a reported 80% collection rate. This agency
issues letters of collection and follows up with telephone calls to violators. The fee
for this service is 35% of collected revenue. Additional collection actions, such as
Small Claims Court and credit bureau reporting, are available for an additional
charge.
A second alternative would be to assign this task to the City's Revenue Recovery
Specialist; however, the citation amounts typically fall below the normal $50.00
minimum threshold. There would be costs involved in postage, telephone charges
and man-hours that may or may not be offset by collections.
It is staff opinion that the best solution would be to contract with Enforcement
Technology and AutoCOLLE:CT for expanded collection services.
21
Lawrence D. Wedekind Harold Good, CPPO
Safety, Spec. Prog. & Enf. Manager Director of Procurement & Contracting
APPROVED �f
City Manager
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REVIEWED BY DEPT. OF FINANCE
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Jan-04 -02 09: 37A ETEC SOUTH 9497073826 P . 02
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28 Hammond - Suite C >'
Irvine, California 92618
(949) 707-ETEC FAX (949) 707-3826 —'
January 4, 2002
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Mt. Lawrence D. Wedekind
City of Palm Springs
P.D. Box 2743
Palm Springs, CA 92263-2743
Clear Mr. Wedekind:
Pursuant to our conversations with your department we have reviewed our
current Parking Citation Processing Agreement relative to collections of delinquent
citations issued to vehicles registered out-of-state. Our Current agreement already
covers this service level based on 35% of the collected revenue. We will now
expand this to include vour delinquent in-state citations. ETEC does all of the
collections follow-up processing with no up front costs to you. The City only pays if the
citation Is paid.
Our NEW comprehensive AutoCOLLECT service expands our capabilities to
involve working closely with our Collection Agency partner. In addition to the
production and mailing of collection notices by ETEC, our partners provide skip tracing
to obtain current telephone numbers and then telephone customer services. They
receive calls and call debtors, to affect the collection of delinquent citations. Pursuing
legal collection actions, such as Small Claims Court, will require additional fees that will
be discussed and approved by you prior to implementing this level of service.
To add this expanded AutoCOLLECT service all we need is your signed
approval below on this letter. Collections of delinquent instate citations will be
implemented prior to DMV hold placements, Once we receive the letter we will begin
the procedures to implement this service level. You can fax the letter and we will get
started right away_ Please send us the original for our contract file.
Linda French and her staff are looking forward to working with you on this
service expansion If you have any questions please give Linda or me a call.
Sincerely,
Gaerd, Ph.D.
President and CEO APPROVED
FrcellP.nce rhrmigh fnglnoanng
MINUTE ORDER NO.
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APPROVING AMENDMENT #1 TO
AGREEMENT NO. 3871 WITH EN-
FORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY TO ✓_s
INCLUDE EXPANDED COLLECTION
SERVICES FOR UNPAID PARKING
CITATIONS, BASED ON 35% OF
COLLECTED REVENUE.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that this Minute Order, approving Amendment #1 to
Agreement No. 3871 with Enforcement Technology to include expanded
collection services for unpaid parking citations, based on 35% of collected
revenue, was adopted by the Cily Council of the City of Palm Springs, California,
in a meeting thereof held on the 151h day of May, 2002.
PATRICIA A. SANDERS
City Clerk
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