Let off with a warning

A recent spate of tickets issued in error and complaints about inappropriate behavior have prompted city officials to reassess Pasadena’s parking enforcement program — but in the meantime, the contractor responsible for what Transportation Director Fred Dock called a “lapse of service” will get even more money to continue writing citations over the next year.

Monday’s City Council decision to grant a $662,670 contract extension to Pasadena-based Inter-Con Security, which has handled parking enforcement in the city for more than a decade, racking up more than $5.3 million in revenue for the city last year alone, overrode a previous plan by city officials to consider employing a different firm.

Inter-Con’s second chance, however, came with some strings attached — namely that they must do better, or the city can cancel the agreement on 90 days notice.

“We were seeing a spate of concerns of overaggressive enforcement … as well as several instances, particularly in areas of time-limited parking, when we were seeing citations issued in error in large numbers,” said Dock, summarizing events the Weekly began reporting on in May.

“We’re now tracking those to make sure they don’t occur again. The process through which those happened pointed out a lapse of service on the contractor’s part in terms of their attention to detail,” continued Dock, who also attributed problems to insufficient training and high employee turnover.
Dock also said the city has rescinded numerous erroneous tickets issued by a parking enforcement officer whom the city recently ordered Inter-Con to dismiss.

The contract extension, however, increases Inter-Con’s fee by 10 percent over last year, said city Parking Manager Bill Bortfeld. That money will go to cover 4,000 additional hours of enforcement — most of it for increased management oversight — and to cover shift differential pay adjustments, he said. 

As the Weekly reported earlier this month, Inter-Con recently paid more than $6 million to settle three class action lawsuits by employees alleging they were denied pay during shift changes and that Inter-Con had consistently violated state meal and rest-break requirements.

On Tuesday, Inter-Con began giving supplemental training for its parking enforcement personnel, said Inter-Con Vice President of Operations Mike Sutkaytis, who helps oversee its Pasadena contract.

“We’re working hard with the city to improve public perception,” he told council members.

Although some on the council argued to shorten Inter-Con’s extension, Dock and Interim City Manager Bernard Melekian said city officials would need a full year to draw up new requirements for a long-term parking enforcement contract, accept bids on that contract, and prevent any gap in enforcement if a new contractor is selected.

New contract requirements will include more detailed performance evaluation standards, as well as a system for resolving citizen complaints and ticket disputes, said Melekian. Dock added that future long-term contracts will require parking enforcement officers to provide photographic evidence to support some of the citations they issue.

Saying she’s received numerous complaints about surly and argumentative behavior by parking enforcement officers, Councilwoman Margaret McAustin urged city officials to move as quickly as possible in drafting a new parking enforcement contract.

“Their behavior sends a message about who we are in Pasadena. They should act in a responsible way, not be argumentative. They should be respectful of the person who’s getting a ticket,” said McAustin, who fought to limit the contract extension to six months.

Councilman Steve Madison — whose district includes Inter-Con’s Old Pasadena offices and, he said, the home of CEO and former LAPD detective Enrique Hernandez — strenuously objected to McAustin’s efforts to limit the contract extension. Madison argued primarily that Inter-Con was a local minority-owned business employing local residents, many of them minorities as well.

McAustin’s effort was supported, however, by Councilman Victor Gordo, who expressed additional concern that if Inter-Con is having trouble retaining employees, it may be that the company isn’t treating them well.

At the meeting, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) organizer Greg Sawyer alleged that Inter-Con has faced numerous harassment complaints related to its security contract with Kaiser Permanente hospitals, where some employees claim mistreatment and have sought to join the SEIU. A follow-up call about that information was deferred to a union supervisor who could not be reached.

At the meeting, Inter-Con Vice President of Operations Catherine Ross urged the council to disregard those comments, saying both that Inter-Con had complained about SEIU to the National Labor Relations Board and that the company had settled some lawsuits in cases when “it costs more to fight than settle.”

Councilwoman Jacque Robinson, who is employed by SEIU, recused herself from the discussion. Councilman Chris Holden was absent.

“We need to keep this on the front burner,” said McAustin. “Conversations have been had with the existing contractor about a need to spiff up. This short-term extension is going to be an opportunity for [Inter-Con] to show they can improve.”