Mobile’s major thoroughfares could see a lot more attention from lawn crews this year if the City Council signs off on nearly $300,000 in mowing contracts with four private companies. The proposal would put 16 major rights-of-way throughout the city on a private mowing schedule for the first time in years, part of an ongoing push by Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration to outsource routine maintenance work.
According to the mayor’s office, the city broke the mowing work into four separate bid packages and circulated them to 316 companies, ultimately receiving nine bids. Four companies are in line to win contracts if the council approves the plan. Jubilee Landscape Management Inc. would take on a $129,303 contract covering Government Street and Highway 90 from just east of Eslava Creek to Bellingrath Road. Eric’s Lawn Care LLC would handle Dauphin Island Parkway from Gossan Street to Faye Street for $17,010. Complete Management Group LLC would service Hillcrest Road between Airport Boulevard and Girby Road, along with Cottage Hill Road from Montlimar Creek to Hillcrest Road, for $29,430.
The largest single contract, worth $114,941.70, would go to Groundskeepers Lawn and Landscaping, which would take responsibility for the remaining dozen rights-of-way. That list includes stretches of Airport Boulevard, University Boulevard, Dauphin Street, Springhill Avenue and Michigan Avenue, along with several downtown streets such as Canal Street, South Claiborne Street, South Conception Street, Water Street, Beauregard Street, North Lawrence Street and North Broad Street.
If approved, the contracts call for 27 separate mowing cycles running from April 13 through the end of October. Each designated stretch would be mowed on a 14-day cycle during April and October, then shift to a faster seven-day cycle for the peak growing months of May through September. City officials also built in the option to extend any, all or none of the awarded contracts for a second or third year depending on performance and budget.
“I look forward to seeing the results across the city from a mowing program that spans the entire growing season. The citizens deserve a clean and well-maintained city,” Stimpson said in a statement announcing the proposal. He added that shifting the work to private contractors on major thoroughfares should free up city crews to focus on other parts of Mobile, and expressed confidence that the new schedule would keep up with the pace of the growing season better than in years past.
The push toward privatized mowing began under the Stimpson administration in July 2014, when the council approved a smaller set of late-season contracts with All Pro Landscaping and Lawn Care Inc. and Eric’s Lawn Care LLC totaling $102,777. A third proposed contract with Complete Management LLC was tabled at that time for lack of funding. Before the shift to private contractors, the same rights-of-way were being mowed by city staff on a 21-day cycle. Under the standard service agreement, a mowing cycle includes mowing, trimming, edging and removal of trash and litter along the right-of-way, with the city retaining authority to adjust schedules based on weather.