Maybe the city should just buy some goats?
After two meetings, two work sessions, four votes and two broken ties, Columbus City Council is still no closer to an agreement on cutting grass at the Highway 82 interchanges.
City Engineer Kevin Stafford, for the second time, asked the council to approve an approximately $75,000 bid by S&S Landscaping and Nursery to cut grass along Mississippi Department of Transportation rights-of-way on five interchanges along Highway 82 and the straightaway along Highway 45 North between Highway 82 and 18th Avenue North in front of Leigh Mall.
At its last meeting the council tabled the request and asked CFO James Brigham to crunch the numbers and see how much it would cost for Public Works to do the work in-house.
Tuesday Stafford told the council it would be better from both a cost and manpower perspective to outsource it, echoing Brigham’s report at last week’s work session.
“(Public Works Director Casey Bush) said he doesn’t have the staff to do it on Friday right now,” Stafford said. “Also he’s paying about $27,000 per person, so obviously the (manpower) would cost well beyond the $75,000 bid.”
The employees currently being used to cut the grass in question could be redeployed to work in the wards, Stafford said.
The actual cost this fiscal year would come to about $31,250, because half of the contract year is already over, Brigham told the council Tuesday. The money could be pulled from unspent payroll funds in Public Works, where expenditures are under budget due to the department being understaffed.
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene moved, with a second from Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco, to accept the bid.
“This is the face of our city, and it’s very important that we keep it looking good,” Greene said. “This will also allow (Bush’s) workers to get back in the wards, and this price is very fair.”
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard asked Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell how many employees were in Public Works and how many applicants there were.
Mitchell said she didn’t know the total number of employees in the department, but estimated there were about 150 applications currently.
“It’s a challenge,” she said. “People will come in for the interview but not show up for the physical or drug screening.”
Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart made a substitute motion to reject the bids and keep grass-cutting in-house, with a second by Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones.
“Look at the bids that (Stafford) brought in,” Stewart said. “The low bidder is a fraction of the other bids. What happens if they go up in three years?”
The contracts are for three years. The next lowest bid was $232,993 by Evergreen Landscape and Management.
Stafford explained that S&S is a new business looking to scale up, while Evergreen added $75,000 to its bid to keep workers on staff over the winter, when mowing work isn’t normally done.
Beard asked Bush what he needed to do the work in-house.
Bush said the job needs eight workers, as well as some equipment — one of Public Works’ mowers needs to be replaced after being hit by a car.
Beard made his own substitute motion, with a second by Stewart, to table the request until the next council meeting.
“A couple more weeks won’t hurt,” Beard said.
Beard’s motion deadlocked, with Stewart, Beard and Jones voting yes and Mickens, Greene and DiCicco voting no. Mayor Keith Gaskin broke the tie by voting no.
“I want to look into it,” Beard said. “At some point in time people need to be realistic. Y’all are making this real joke-ish. It’s becoming a joke.”
Next up was Stewart’s motion to reject the bid, which also deadlocked. This time Stewart, Mickens and Jones voted yes and Greene, Beard and DiCicco opposed, with Gaskin casting the tie-breaking no vote.
That left Greene’s motion to approve the S&S bid, which was defeated 4-2, with Stewart, Mickens, Beard and Jones voting against and Greene and DiCicco voting in favor.
“So we’re doing nothing, it seems,” Gaskin said.
Highway 45 landscaping
Also tabled at the last council meeting was a request to outsource landscaping seven flower beds in the median along Highway 45 North, stretching from Ninth Avenue North to the intersection at Breaux Bridge restaurant. The low bid there was $68,000 by Evergreen Landscaping.
Evergreen would plant the flowers in the beds, which would then be maintained by Public Works. The plants would be warrantied for one year, Stafford said.
Jones wondered why Public Works’ landscaping crew couldn’t do the work.
“They’re being paid every day, but they can’t plant flowers correctly?” Jones asked.
“It’s whether they can plant them and maintain them,” Gaskin said. “Obviously that hasn’t happened.”
Jones moved, with a second from Stewart, to have Public Works do the work instead.
Bush said he preferred to outsource the planting.
“Going and getting these flowers, we did it once before and we lost some flowers,” he said. “I would rather the company plant them … and we maintain them after they plant them.”
Beard made a substitute motion to approve the outsourcing, with a second from Greene. It deadlocked, with Greene, Beard and DiCicco voting in favor and Stewart, Mickens and Jones voting in opposition. Gaskin broke the tie in favor of outsourcing.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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