The City Council will be asked Oct. 26 to hand Princeton's mowing and landscaping to BrightView Services Inc., which submitted the lowest of 14 bids at an estimated $519,976.44 a year, according to the meeting packet.
The resolution, presented by Parks and Recreation Director Chase Bryant, is on the regular agenda for the council's 6:30 p.m. meeting Monday, Oct. 26, at the Princeton Municipal Center, 2000 E. Princeton Drive. Staff recommends the award, calling BrightView the "lowest bidder and most advantageous respondent."
What gets mowed
Before the city sought bids, departments worked with the IT department's mapping software to measure every green space in the contract so bidders would be pricing the same scope, the staff presentation says. The total came to 393.521 acres, mowed at different frequencies and in different ways.
The work includes weekly and every-other-week commercial mowing, heavy tractor and shredder mowing, flower bed upkeep, landscaping at the Steve and Judy Deffibaugh Community Center, line trimming with nontoxic chemical treatment, and code-compliance mowing on lots under half an acre.
The city's bid tabulation shows BrightView's pricing per pass. Weekly mowing of 104.72 acres would cost $61.17 an acre, every-other-week mowing of 70.67 acres $49.07 an acre, and heavy-duty mowing of 212.91 acres $34.68 an acre. A code-compliance cut would run $93 for a lot under a quarter acre and $156 for one between a quarter and half an acre.
Who pays
The estimated annual cost is split among several budgets:
- Parks and Recreation: $491,175.87, for rights of way, medians, parkland and landscaping at city buildings
- Princeton Economic Development Corporation: $23,727.57, for 41.16 acres of green space at Bois d'Arc Professional Park
- Princeton Community Development Corporation: $4,824, for community center landscaping
- Development Services: $249, for mowing private lots whose owners do not comply with city code
