New mowing contract has 'teeth'

The Pleasant Hill City Council approved a contract that officials say could lead to a better looking landscape.

The city council unanimously approved a new mowing contract that gives the city more legal recourse if a contractor does an inadequate job at a meeting last Tuesday.

Pleasant Hills parks and recreation supervisor Heath Ellis told the council the new contract helps ensure the citys green spaces will be landscaped properly.

Over the years weve seen some challenges associated with making sure (contractors) get the job done, Ellis said. With this contract, we have enough teeth so if they dont get the job done, theyre gone.

Ellis said the previous contract never clarified some important aspects of landscaping the citys parks, cemeteries and city properties.

In the past we never had verbage that basically spelled out, if you fail to do this, this is what is going to happen to you, he said.

He said the current contract adds sections making the mowing contractor liable for damage to trees and turf, as well as protection against bids that are too low.

The contract adds provisions that potential bidders must meet. These include the contractor must have mowed 100 acres per week last year, owned a commercial turf-grass mowing business for the past three years and provide proof of insurance from most recent seasons. The contract also stipulates services rendered on specific days of the week, like mowing the ball fields on Fridays, and specific types of equipment the contractor must use.

These are the things that we find to be most necessary, he said. It lets the contractors know that we are serious.

Ellis said the citys biggest problem in gathering bids for landscaping contracts is that it gets bids that are unreasonably low.

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New mowing contract has 'teeth'