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After a lengthy discussion and a failed motion to stick with a Wisconsin-based contractor, the Randall Town Board Thursday night awarded a contract for lawn mowing this summer to The Land Group of Woodstock, Illinois.
The vote for awarding the contract to The Land Group was 3 to 2 with Supervisors Rose Nolan and Bob Gehring voting against.
Moments before, Gehring had motioned to award the contract to All-Star Lawn Care, Burlington but that motion failed with Chairman Bob Stoll and Supervisors Mike Halvorson and Randy Kaskin voting against. All-Star has been the town’s mowing contractor for several years.
The town Public Works Committee had recommended awarding the contract to The Land Group after soliciting bids for the work. The three lowest bids were:
- The Land Group — $2,220 per month.
- All-Star — $2,282 per month
- Bristol Lawn Mowing — $2,325 per month.
Gehring and Nolan said they supported staying with All-Star despite it not being the lowest bid because of owner Mike Rozell’s familiarity with the town’s properties and his proximity.
But Stoll pointed out that he felt a fiduciary responsibility to vote for the lowest bid unless a substantial reason could be raised for not doing so. He said he felt the track records of all three firms showed any was up to doing the work.
Halvorson said The Land Group bid included the most mowings — three a month for every town property — and therefore offered the most potential for savings if fewer cuts were needed due to weather.
Why are we choosing to spend our Town’s money on an out-of-town contractor, when there are equally qualified firms with comparable quotes right in our area? We should be utilizing our tax dollars by contracting with local companies that employ local labor. The money we would spend would stay locally and benefit our towns and state. With the high rate of unemployment/ underemployment in our area, keeping the money here makes more fiscal sense than saving a couple hundred dollars over a summer.