Martin County court awards park and roadside mowing contracts; roadside line item increased

Martin County fiscal court on March 20 awarded multiple grounds-maintenance contracts, including park mowing and roadside mowing, and approved a small budget increase to cover roadside mowing costs.

Staff presented a park-mowing bid from Bogar Lawn Care LLC of Canada, Kentucky, at $40,164.93 and a competing B and B Contracting bid at $41,995.94. The court voted to accept the B and B (BNB) park-mowing contract by voice vote.

For roadside mowing the court reviewed three bids: a Dennis/Courtney Moore submission that did not conform to the bid packet ($14,300 per cut), M and J Contracting (listed in the packet as America Jew DBA M and J Contracting) at $16,500 per cut ($33,000 total), and Ferris Tree Service (Brandon Kirk) at $64,500 per cut ($129,000 total). The court moved to accept the M and J bid and increased the roadside mowing line item from $28,000 to $33,000 to cover the new contract; the motion carried by voice vote.

Court members noted the current roadside allocation in the county budget is limited and discussed the need for a line-item transfer or budget amendment to fund the higher bid. Staff said they could pursue additional information for any nonconforming bids and that the county could process a budget amendment if the court authorized it.

The court approved the contracts and the associated budget adjustment by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.