School board approves one-year trial for outsourced lawn care after debate over costs

District staff told trustees the lawn-care RFP drew five bidders and outlined two key drivers: aging district equipment and the recurring labor cost of keeping mowing in-house. "What you have in front of you is, we had 5 bidders," a district staff member told the board, and staff estimated the district's in-house cost for three employees at about $173,585 per year.

Trustees debated whether to buy new mowers and retain mowing in-house or to contract the work out. "This seems to me like a lot of money," the chair said during the discussion, urging caution about the district buying new equipment for immediate use. Staff acknowledged they had quotes for replacement mower motors and described trade-offs between equipment purchase, maintenance and outsourcing.

Several trustees asked that any contract include explicit performance clauses and a stated mowing frequency; one trustee asked that a draft contract be prepared for board review before the district signs an agreement. Staff said that a short-term guarantee should not be necessary for a contractor who would not need to purchase large equipment, but agreed a performance clause could be appropriate.

The board voted to proceed with the low bidder on a one-year trial and asked staff to prepare a contract for review and a later vote. The motion to authorize moving forward with the lawn-care procurement was approved; trustees said they would revisit the arrangement if it did not produce the expected savings or performance.