Town Looking at Landscaping Help

By Adam Swift

The town is looking at subcontracting some landscaping and maintenance work in the center business district as the public works department deals with diminished staffing.

At Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting, several residents raised questions about the maintenance and care of new plantings and landscaping in the district.

“I know we discussed many times making sure we did our due diligence in making these new structures we are creating and the streetscapes we put in,” said Council President James Letterie. “I know we have discussed many times at previous meetings about creating a parks department to take some of the work away from the DPW and have a set crew to take care of and maintain parks.”

Public works director Steve Calla said he and his department were vocal along every step of the way during the planning for the center business district that there needed to be an outside landscaper brought in to maintain the landscape and streetscape portions of the project.

“I have to remind everybody, because I don’t think everybody in this room really grasps how down we are in manpower, and how many things keep coming up and (they say) the DPW is going to take care of it,” said Calla. “We are down 11 positions right now, and I just got another resignation today. So right now, you have approximately 13 people taking care of your buildings, your cemeteries, your 52 acres of grass, your water, and your sewer.”

Calla said he doesn’t like to make excuses, but that the department is down to the bare minimum. He said the department could send someone down every once in a while for weeding, but that it wasn’t something it could do every day.

“Certainly, it would be money well spent if a landscaper could come in,” said Calla.

Letterie said Calla has been up front about consistently stating that the maintenance of the center business district would be a $40,000 to $50,000 a year job.

“I spoke to the town manager about a week ago about possibly subcontracting some of this work, and not just in the center, but in some other areas of town that need attention … including the Point and the Highlands,” said Letterie.

Town Manager Tony Marino said he was in the process of looking at the possibility of subcontracting out some of the landscaping maintenance work.