News | Peachtree City

PTC gets big savings on landscaping

Thu, 01/17/2008 - 4:12pm
By: John Munford

Contract also calls for cutting of some rec fields

Peachtree City is saving $95,000 on its landscaping services by replacing two vacant landscaping/grass cutting staff positions with the services of a private company.

TruGreen LandCare of Stone Mountain was the low bidder selected by the city with a bid of $45,420. The city will leave two unfilled positions in the public works and leisure services divisions, saving $140,208 from the 2008 budget, officials said.

The one-year non-renewable contract is for seasonal landscaping on Ga. Highway 54 east and Ga. Highway 74 north, for seasonal grass cutting in the same areas and seasonal grass cutting on a number of athletic fields.

Based on the hours spent on the duties, the city would have spent $107,000 having the right-of-way work done by city employees, said Tom Corbett, Peachtree City’s public works director. The part of the bid for that work was just over $15,000.

Mayor Harold Logsdon noted that the city would also save on gasoline and wear on equipment.

A total of 18 companies submitted bids for the work. TruGreen already does work in the city for the Fayette County Board of Education, Corbett said.

“We are getting the advantage of that presence here with this low bid,” Corbett said.

The savings has already been incorporated into the budget, officials said.

The company provides its own traffic control, cleanup and haul away services, Corbett said.

“If this works well for us we’ll look at some areas we might want to include on the next cycle and the next cycle,” Corbett said.

Director of Leisure Services Randy Gaddo said the sports fields would be cut to current standards of the recreation department: once a week and to a specified height.

“We will be overseeing it so we’ll make sure it’s done to the standard we need,” Gaddo said.

The recreation department will still have its own mowers on hand to be able to handle special needs if necessary because it will still be taking care of the other parks.

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Why are we using Service Providers Outside the County
Shadow08's picture
Submitted by Shadow08 on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 10:07am.

Ok, so last year the grass got cut, who did it? Now we hire a sub standard contractor with no ties to the city or county. Yes, I said sub-standard! PTC look at the quality of the schools and the service they provide, (All the schools not just the ones inside the city limits). Do you think with all the mulch the contract calls for, all the maintenance, and mowing, the numbers don’t add up, they should be writing the city a check for the opportunity to work in the city. Or maybe they do with all the potential undocumented workers at minimum wage. I own a landscaping company in Fayette County and I did not bid on this project, but come on, I have 2 residential accounts in Whitewater that pay more then the contract award for annual maintenance and they are less than 5 acres combined. Did you ask to see the backgrounds on the persons who will be traveling into our community, working at the places where our kids are most likely to hang out (parks and recreation)? Have they been checked against the sexual offender data base? Do you buy them lunch too? Guess the tree service guy who works for PTC will be the quality assurance point of contact. They drive from Stone Mountain (Would love to see the I-9’s on this group of “professionals”) so the gas and travel time would eat up 1/4th of the contract price. They have to cut quality somewhere. Guess you will get what you paid for, but I wouldn’t brag about the great deal or the savings, your going wish you hadn’t made the press release. Company has no ties other than the dollar, You get what you pay for, maybe this award has more mold then the PTC Police Dept. Bldg. Just my opinion, I could be wrong?

“Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
George Orwell


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Munford
Submitted by sageadvice on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 8:53am.

Want to explain those weird numbers saved by not hiring people?
Please read what you said again and see if it makes any logical sense to you today!
Or does it have to do so if that is what they told you?
I just hope they aren't mowing the dust this summer because the contract says they MUST mow at a certain time, or no check.
What I think is this: we are going to spend $45,000 more dollars than we have been spending---nobody is getting laid off nor are the headcounts going to be less!
Also lets Jose do the work for a contractor!

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what are the savings ?
Submitted by jackyldo on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 7:56am.

At one point it says the city saves $95,000 by not filling 2 positions and by paying a contractor $45,420.00. The it goes on to say this SAVES $140,208. from the 2008 budget.

First if the city was budgeting $140,208. for 2 city positions $70,104. each, WHERE CAN WE SIGN UP FOR SUCH JOBS ?

Second it's not possible to save more than what the job was budgeted for, if we did not fill 2 positions we are on paper saving $140,208 that was budgeted but instead we filled the 2 positions work with an outside contractor and will pay him $45,420. Meaning against budget we will save $95,000.

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Quality
Submitted by kjm1978 on Sat, 01/19/2008 - 1:13pm.

The math does seem suspect. If you would like to see the quality of work that Trugreen does, check out the schools that they service. PTC will have to hire someone to over see Trugreen...to make sure that they live up to the contract.

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Savings on two positions that are currently vacant?
Mike King's picture
Submitted by Mike King on Thu, 01/17/2008 - 9:47pm.

Come now, did we not cut the grass last year? Those that actually did the work are likely to still be on the payroll so I guess they will become supervisors to oversee the contractors. I imagine a couple promotions are in order.
Common sense has surely been lost at City Hall.


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King is dead right on faulty budget talk
Submitted by johenry on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 8:24pm.

I agree with Mike King, the city doesn't fill two positions they didn't use (and still got the grass cut, by the way).

This is voodoo economics.

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Where do I apply?
Submitted by TomCat on Thu, 01/17/2008 - 9:30pm.

I'm no math whiz, but if 2 vacancies add up to $140K, does that mean we have worker positions making $70,000 per year? Must be using some strong voodoo math to figure the city's budget. And another thing, I've seen those folks cutting grass around the schools - 1 cut - 1 level - too short - no grass - even more savings!

"The Cat is loose...."

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