Des Moines City Council to Consider Approval of Towing Contract After Appeal Decision

The City's evaluation and selection committee recommended Crow Tow as the proposed contract awardee. That recommendation was appealed by Central Iowa Towing and Recovery (CITR) on February 2, 2026.

That appeal has now been reviewed and determined by City Manager Scott Sanders according to processes outlined in the RFP and Municipal Code. City Manager Sanders overruled CITR's appeal, and the evaluation and selection committee's recommendation to award the contract to Crow Tow will be considered by the City Council at its February 23, 2026 Council meeting.

"Multiple aspects of the CITR proposal could be anticipated to increase costs for both residents who have been towed through the City contract and the City itself," Sanders said. "These increased costs to our residents led to the selection of Crow Tow through this process and the recommended contract that will be considered by our City Council on Monday evening."

Several scoring disparities between the appealed bid from CITR and Crow Tow's bid would have increased anticipated costs to residents and were the determining factors in the selection and evaluation committee's recommendation to award the contract to Crow Tow:

• The CITR Bid crossed out the requirement that the contractor provide notice of the impoundment to the owner of the vehicle within 72 hours and wrote instead 20 days. This could lead to up to 17 additional days of vehicle storage fees before the owner is notified.
• CITR stated that the City should refund impound and storage costs in the event of a successful appeal, though the contract and RFP outline that those costs would be paid by the selected contractor.
• The CITR bid did not meet the requirements of the RFP as the current outside lot does not have adequate fencing, lighting or security cameras.
• The CITR proposal did not include adequate storage facilities within the Des Moines City limits, as requested in the RFP which could increase the cost and burden to retrieve vehicles for Des Moines residents.

If the City Council approves the contract Monday, the new contract would go into effect on March 1^st, 2026.

Contact
Peter Zemansky
Communications Manager, City Manager's Office
(515) 210-6586
[email protected]

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