Contract dispute muddies city janitorial services

Just a few weeks after finalizing an agreement with a janitorial contractor, the city of Sarasota found itself with a mess on its hands.

The morning of Feb. 24, city staff discovered a series of untidy scenes. That contractor had failed to clean or lock any of the public park bathrooms for which it was responsible overnight, staff discovered.

Todd Kucharski, the city’s public works general manager, described the problem to Sarasota officials in an email that morning. The janitorial contractor wasn’t responding, and staff was working on a strategy to address the issue themselves. 

Given the short notice and extent of the problem, however, Kucharski didn’t sugarcoat the severity of the challenge.

“In simple terms, the restrooms are an unclean disaster, with a few having vandalism,” Kucharski wrote.

On Jan. 12, the city struck a deal with Boro Building & Property Maintenance to conduct some recurring maintenance services. The three-year contract paid nearly $150,000 annually for cleaning up three city office buildings and restrooms at seven park facilities.

Despite the issues last month, staff members believed the city wasn’t necessarily in need of a new cleaning service. David Boswell, the city’s purchasing manager, said the city eventually got in touch with the contractor and discussed what went wrong.

“Right now, we’re working out some contract issues that they seem to have problems with,” Boswell said in an interview with the Sarasota Observer Monday.

Those negotiations had fallen through by Wednesday, though. Boswell informed the contractor that the city intends to terminate the deal, and Boro responded by voluntarily withdrawing from the agreement.

In the letter, Boro representative Rob Skrzypkowski states the dispute was tied to a misinterpretation of a provision of the contract. The agreement calls for three porters that oversee bathrooms “between the hours of 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.” The city says that means full-time porters, but Skrzypkowski states Boro believed part-time workers could fulfill that obligation.

Boro will continue its service through March 31, at which point the city will move on to the runner-up bid for the janitorial service contract.  That bid was submitted by At Your Service Cleaning Group, which will command about $23,000 more to assume the same responsibilities.

Throughout various governments, Boswell said, cleaning and mowing contracts generally prove to be the most troublesome. Despite the disagreement with Boro, he was confident there would be no confusion with the new contractor.

“The second vendor said, ‘We understood it clearly,’” Boswell said. “‘This is what you wanted, and this is what we’re going to do.’”

Kucharski said if problems arise in the future, staff will work to address voids wherever necessary — although as Boswell pointed out, there’s a limit to what they’re capable of doing.

“They’re going to do what they need to do in the interim to make sure the bathrooms are clean as much as possible,” Boswell said. “They’re limited on staff, too — if we had the staff to do it, we wouldn’t have to hire a contractor.”