Politics & Government
Downtown Ford Files Suit Against City
Sacramento dealership alleges improper award of public contract
Downtown Ford of Sacramento is suing the city of Elk Grove for allegedly showing an unfair bias in awarding a contract to a local business instead of the lowest bidder.
Attorney Stephen R. Hamilton filed the complaint Monday in Sacramento Superior Court on behalf of Downtown Ford.
At the Dec. 14 city council meeting, staff recommended awarding a $396,000 three-year contract to Downtown Ford of Sacramento to repair and service Elk Grove’s fleet of police vehicles.
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Councilmembers, however, voted to give the contract to Elk Grove Ford instead because it is a local business, even though Downtown Ford’s bid was $30,000 lower, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that the Downtown Ford deal would have saved the city $17,000 a year.
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“Stated simply, the city set forth the rules of the game and then disregarded those rules in order to achieve a rigged result,” the complaint states.
Downtown Ford is asking the court to vacate the “improper” award.
“The foregoing conduct of the city fundamentally offends the seminal purpose of requiring government entities to open contracting opportunities to public bidding – i.e., to eliminate favoritism, fraud and corruption, avoid misuse of public funds and stimulate advantageous market place competition,” the complaint states.
City officials would not comment on the litigation, said Acting Public Information Officer Christian Punsal.
At the Dec. 14 meeting, however, Interim City Attorney Jonathan Hobbs told the council they have the discretion to award the contract to another bidder if they find that it’s in the best interest of the city to keep business local.
Vice Mayor Patrick Hume said he wanted to spend city dollars locally and award the contract to Elk Grove Ford, which is owned by Matt Wood.
“When we approved the economic development incentive for Mr. Wood to locate his dealership here, I was excited that we could finally start servicing our police fleet here in town and keeping our money local,” Hume said.
“… They were not the lowest bidder, but they’re still lower than our existing contract, so it’s a very reasonable bid."
