Belleville DDA approves contracts for grass mowing, flower planting

At its first virtual Zoom meeting on May 20, the Belleville Downtown Development Authority approved contracts for grass mowing in parks and landscaping service in the DDA district.
DDA Coordinator Carol Thompson said the call for bids for grass mowing at four city parks went out in February and six companies responded in March.
DDA members Jason Mida and Jim Chudzinski looked them over and made a recommendation to retain the current contractor Gonzy’s Property Maintenance of Sumpter Township, the low bidder for $8,553 for an estimated 22 weeks at one cutting per week for one year.
The work will be supervised by DPW Director Rick Rutherford.
Mida was present at the meeting virtually, but his audio couldn’t be turned on at first and he was unable to speak on this contract recommendation. Chudzinski was absent.
Others bidding were Pioneer Landscaping, Outdoor Experts Inc., A&W Lawn & Leaf, Randy Brown Landscaping, and Louie & Williams Lawn Care, which only bid on Victory Park.
The bids were requested for three years. The parks to be mowed are Horizon, Doane’s Landing, Victory, and Village.
Councilwoman Kelly Bates, who was present from her home, said she lives in Victoria Commons, next to Village Park, and one of her concerns with Gonzy is cleanup. She said weed whipping is needed by the fences.
“They haven’t been edged in so long it is overgrown over the sidewalks, narrowing the sidewalks,” Councilwoman Bates said.
Thompson said neither grass blowing or edging is specified in the bid specification written by DPW Director Rutherford. Later, it was determined the specifications do require grass blowing and edging.
Councilwoman Bates said there are 220 homes in Victoria Commons. She held up pictures to her computer to take the images to the virtual meeting.
“Grass is all over the sidewalks and weeds are almost the height of the fences,” Bates said. “Grass is all over the blacktop path in the park.” She added that dead trees are lying in the park and trees have been cut selectively.
“We’re in charge of that area,” said DDA chairwoman Alicia McGovern. “I don’t know why we wouldn’t be doing that.” She asked Thompson to talk to Rutherford about it.
Councilman Ken Voigt, who was attending the meeting via Zoom, said the grass had been cut on Fridays in Horizon Park and he would like it cut Thursdays so the park would be ready for the Music Lakeside concerts.
Thompson said the proposal did include grass cutting being done before the concerts.
Thompson said Gonzy had the contract through 2019 and he picked up the mowing at the early part of the month.
“We didn’t plan on conoronavirus or the pandemic to interfere with our doing business.”
Treasurer Sabrina Richardson-Williams, who came to the meeting late, said she read Rutherford’s grass-cutting specifications and the requirements for cleaning up the grass and edging are in there.
“They’ve been on this for three years and not doing this,” Bates said. “They aren’t doing it and they should be doing it.”
DDA member Valerie Kelley-Bonner said they can go forward with Gonzy, but who’s going to make them accountable?
“The DDA will hold them accountable,” chairwoman McGovern said. “I have no problem walking down there with Kelly.”
“Are there problems with any of the other parks?” asked Secretary Denise Baker.
“I would think Rick Rutherford would be the person to address Gonzy,” Williams said.
“Rick Rutherford and I often walk the parks and anyone else is welcome to walk and call it in,” Thompson said.
McGovern asked the DDA if they want to continue with Gonzy or go with someone with higher cost who will do the work. She said she had heard complaints from Victoria Commons for two years.
She said Village Park is a small part of the contract and they could go with him this year and see how they do.
“We can definitely move the contract next year if they are not doing the job,” McGovern said.
The DDA voted unanimously to award the contract to Gonzy for a year.
Landscaping contract
The DDA also went out for three-year proposals for flowers in the DDA district, referred to as “landscaping services.”
Two local vendors submitted proposals and the higher bid of Pioneer Landscaping of Van Buren Township was recommended after a review by Rutherford, Thompson, Mida, and Chudzinski.
Pioneer had raised its rates from $25 an hour for the last three years, to $30 for the next three years for planning annuals and weeding and planting bed maintenance.
During the interview Pioneer showed photos of previous flower designs, including using flower colors for patriotic and heart designs, and discussed design for 2020. A crew of two would weed about every two weeks, with special preparation before events.
Randy Brown Landscaping of Van Buren Township bid $25, $25.75, and $26.50 for the work over three years.
Brown told the committee he would leave plant selections to the DDA and suggested removing annuals in late August for fall replanting. A maintenance crew of three or four would weed monthly.
“I wish Jason could talk,” said Thompson of Mida’s virtual attendance audio problems.
“Pioneer brought pictures and design plans,” said Thompson. “Randy said he would leave it up to the DDA for changes and pull up perrenials each fall and replant. Not a winning proposal.”
McGovern gave her phone number to Mida and asked him to call her and she would put it on speakerphone. She said she wants to hear what Mida and Chudzinski said.
Mida called and said he was very impressed with Pioneer’s proposal with its pictures and ideas on plants. He said the bid was a little bit more.
He said Randy Brown said he would weed once a month and, “Randy didn’t show up with a lot of plans, not strong ideas. We looked at both proposals and we’re happy with what Pioneer has done in the past.”
Mida said Pioneer wants to get started as soon as possible, if it is awarded the contract.
“Randy didn’t have a solid vision, compared to Pioneer,” Mida said.
Thompson said in a separate agreement, Garden Fantasy on Main puts out some pumpkins and mum plants for the Booville fest and decorates before WinterFest.
The agreement with Pioneer for three years was unanimously approved, with Mida using a thumbs-up logo in the corner of his Zoom picture to vote.
DDA Project Plans
A lengthy discussion at the two-hour meeting was held considering what projects the DDA can undertake in the future. At the Feb. 19 meeting, when they last met, McGovern asked for input from DDA members and some ideas were turned in in writing.
McGovern said there could be a small advisory group to put together ideas with a timeline and vision.
Thompson said City Manager Tracey Schultz Kobylarz has done an incredible job in seeing where the city is on the Belleville 2020 plan created in the late 1990s.
Mayor Kerreen Conley said the city is in a very different place than it was six months ago.
“How do we start to help businesses?” she asked, noting she has been on calls with other communities. “There’s a lot that’s going on, a lot of unknowns.
“We have to help businesses come back to the community, such as designating spaces for pick up,” she said. “A lot of things that might have been on the agenda
… have changed.”
McGovern said it won’t be one group or a board but will take a lot of them.
“Too many people doing too many things,” she said. “We’ve gone through a lot … We’re working on many ideas.”
She said she and Thompson are working with the city manager and others on ideas.
“I would like a review of the 2020 plan,” said Williams.
“I think that should be our basis,” McGovern said.