City Council Meeting: November 27, 2007

Agenda Item: 1-I

To: Mayor and City Council 

From: Craig Perkins, Director - Environmental and Public Works Management

Subject: Award Contract with ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Inc., for Woodlawn Cemetery Landscaping Services

Recommended Action

Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a one year contract with ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Inc., for grounds landscape maintenance services at Woodlawn Cemetery in the amount of $391,948 plus a 10% contingency for a total of $431,143, with an option to extend annually for up to five years.

Executive Summary

In September 2006, Council authorized the City Manager to award a one year landscape contract to address ongoing staffing shortages which resulted in inconsistent maintenance of the Cemetery grounds and less than acceptable appearance of the grounds and markers. Since the contract work began in October 2006, the appearance of the Cemetery grounds has improved and City staff has been able to concentrate on mausoleum cleaning and maintenance as well as internments, and marker and monument resetting. Staff has examined the costs and benefits of adding additional City staff in lieu of continuing to contract out and concluded that the contract for landscaping services provides the most effective service and is the most cost effective option.

Discussion

Presently, interment related services and maintenance of Woodlawn Cemetery Mausoleum is provided by City staff, under the direction of the Environmental and Public Works Management Department. Seven permanent maintenance positions are budgeted for this purpose. The Department is proposing to continue to utilize salary savings resulting from leaving three of the four vacant maintenance positions not filled to off-set the cost of the landscape maintenance contract. The remaining filled staff positions will continue to concentrate on performing mausoleum cleaning and maintenance, performing all the tasks associated with interments, and augmenting grounds maintenance activities whenever possible.

Services under the contract will include daily turf mowing, aeration, fertilization, weeding, grave marker edging and trimming, flower bed maintenance, trash collection, green waste collection and trimming of the perimeter fence hedge both inside and outside the Cemetery grounds. It is also important to note that the contractor has numerous experts on staff to analyze any disease or bug infestation that may have affected the lawns, scrubs, trees or bushes at the Cemetery and will take immediate action to eliminate the problem. The contract would be for a one-year term with options to extend up to five years.

Alternative

An alternative to contracting the grounds landscape maintenance of Woodlawn Cemetery would be to utilize City staff to perform those duties. To achieve a similar level of service, it would be necessary to hire seven Cemetery maintenance workers at an annual cost of $440,362. Additional equipment would also need to be purchased at a cost of approximately $258,480. Additional operating costs bring the first year implementation cost of having City staff perform the grounds maintenance to $738,699. The annual on going costs would be approximately $486,592. This cost does not include the related collateral costs for recruitment and training of new City staff, the as-needed costs that would be required to maintain a consistent staffing level, nor the cost to build adequate facilities to house the permanent employees. It is noted that the Cemetery fund balance will not be able to absorb this additional annual cost, and will therefore require an additional loan from the General Fund in order to avoid an operating budget deficit.

Contract Cost Versus City Staff Cost

Staff compared the bid proposal of ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Inc., to City costs for the same level of services as required by the scope of work and specifications.

Cost Comparison Given Same Level of Coverage

Contractor City Staff

Staff 6 FTE 6 FTE

Equipment N/A $281,116*

Expenses N/A 39, 857

Salaries N/A 440,362

Total Cost $391,948 $738,699**

*Includes depreciation

**After the initial equipment expenditures to the Cemetery, which would require a General fund loan, the annual operating cost to the City would be approximately $486,592.

Previous Council Actions

On September 12, 2006, Council authorized the ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Inc., to provide landscape services for the Woodlawn Cemetery in the amount of $242,176 for one year.

Contractor/Consultant Selection

In August 2007, a request for bids was issued to 54 contractors and the City received 4 complete bids. It was determined that of the responses, ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Inc., meets the bid specifications. Following Environmental and Public Works Management and Finance Department staff’s analysis of the bids and contractor work history, ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Inc., is recommended as the best overall bidder. ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Inc., possesses the experience, equipment, available staffing and understanding of the conditions to perform the various tasks successfully. The contractor has successfully completed several projects for other cities and agencies to include a current one-year contract with Woodlawn Cemetery.

When ValleyCrest took over maintenance at the Cemetery the grounds were in extremely poor conditions. It took them almost six months to rehabilitate the grass and render it green and healthy and weed free. They re-seeded the grounds around the markers so that grass once again buttressed the markers and upright monuments. They weeded around the numerous trees and placed mulch around the trees to enhance the appearance of the grounds. ValleyCrest was able to edge all of the markers and upright monuments and perfect a method of “flare edging” an application of an environmental grass growth inhibitor to control the grass growth around the markers. Since ValleyCrest has taken over the grounds the complaints about the appearance of the Cemetery have been greatly reduced. ValleyCrest has learned the importance of being flexible to avoid working in the area of services and burials. Their staff has always carried themselves in a respectful and courteous manner and there has been no turnover in ValleyCrest staffing since beginning work at Woodlawn. It should be noted that landscape maintenance of a cemetery is vastly different from any other landscape maintenance such as a park, golf course, etc. and Valley/Crest’s experience at Woodlawn was an important factor in their selection.

The State Contractors’ License Board verified that the contractor’s license is current, active, and in good standing.

Contractor Bid

Wurzel Landscape $288,960

ABM Janitorial Services $290,300

Trugreen Landcare $379,638

ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Inc. $391,948

Financial Impacts and Budget Actions

The contract will be awarded in the amount of $431,143 which includes a 10% contingency to be employed in the event that maintenance projects are added during the term. The following budget actions will be required to fund the contract:

Freeze hiring of the three vacant ground maintenance positions at the Cemetery; transfer the $178,806 in estimated salary savings to Cemetery account #37641.555010 (Contractual Services); appropriate $231,442 to account #37641.555010 from the General Fund as a loan to the Cemetery Fund; and award the contract for a one-year term with option to extend up to five years.

Prepared by: Joan Akins, Assistant Director of EPWM

Approved:	Forwarded to Council:
Craig Perkins, Director Environmental and Public Works Management Department	P. Lamont Ewell City Manager