The Indianola City Council approved a bid for lawn care services for the city over the next three years from Woosley Landscaping for $356,658, providing mowing for parks and city facilities. City Manager Ben Reeves tells KNIA News while Woosley was not the lowest bidder for the services and the city wants to be good stewards of taxpayer money, there is value in going with a trusted local company.

“Generally speaking, when we go through a bidding process we have to get the best value for the city. Oftentimes that is equated just to dollars, so the low bid is often seen as the best value. But sometimes the low bid is just a guy in a lawnmower and they don’t have all the equipment to take care of the many acres we have in the city from Pickard Park to the Water Treatment Plant. If it rains, they don’t have enough equipment or personnel that they can shift and reallocate to a different day, we might go a week or two without getting mowed.”

Reeves also said the previous times the city accepted the low bid, the company was unable to perform the services to the quality the city expects, and Woosley had to be contracted to make up for the shortfall, which was another factor in selecting them. Hear more on today’s Let’s Talk Indianola.