Lakewood CDDs sever third-party tie

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Supervisors on Lakewood Ranch’s Community Development Districts have agreed to sever ties with a third-party consultant responsible for measuring their landscape contractor’s performance.

Supervisors from four boards on April 14 voted to terminate an agreement with OLM, the company that manages the district’s contract with landscape contractor Garden Leaders, after it gave Garden Leaders failing landscaping scores in three of four districts.

Town Hall Director of Operations Ryan Heise said a “spirit of cooperation” no longer existed between the two companies, and Garden Leaders owner Joe Morello said he felt his company would receive failing scores “no matter what” since OLM learned the districts already were considering terminating OLM’s services.

Twenty-five percent of payment is retained by districts in which Garden Leaders receives a failing score from OLM.

“We’re very proud of what we’re doing,” Morello told members of the Inter-District Authority board during a workshop last week. “Our failing grades were not deserved.”

Heise, at previous meetings, discussed his intention to terminate OLM’s contract and bring landscape contract management services in-house.

“This property has improved since (Garden Leaders has) been here in 2008,” Heise said. “It’s not perfect.

The scope is enormous, so I don’t know that it will ever be perfect. But we’ve harbored a pretty good relationship with Garden Leaders. They’ve really become an extension of our staff.”

As part of the vote, CDDs 1 and 4 decided not to penalize Garden Leaders for its failing score.
“I think it’s a very tricky situation,” CDD 1 Supervisor June Stroup said. “We have a vendor we believe is doing a reasonably decent job and we have questions about the other vendor. This board feels there was enough improvement over the last month (in landscape) that the penalty imposed was not fair.”
District 5 chose to enforce the penalty. District 2 received a passing landscape score.

Heise said using Garden Leaders for landscape services has saved the districts a total of $1.8 million over three years.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

In Other Business:
CDD 1
Diamond Mason Evans Inc. started work as the district’s new security contractor on April 14. The dispatch number for the company is (800) 734-4446. Supervisor Alan Roth said residents should specify they live in Lakewood Ranch when speaking with the dispatcher.

CDD 2
•  Supervisors approved a contract with Sarasota Land Services for lank bank improvements associated with erosion. Contract amount is not to exceed $47,700.
• In accordance with U.S. Postal Service regulations, supervisors approved the removal of information boxes from the district’s mailboxes.

CDD 4
• Supervisors have moved forward in their search for a new security provider. The operations department is requesting proposals from security contractors for both armed and unarmed guards, and is expecting to present those proposals, with a la cart-style options for services, at the board’s next meeting.
• In accordance with U.S. Postal Service regulations, supervisors approved the removal of information boxes from the district’s mailboxes. The district also will be replacing a bulletin board at the dog park.

CDD 5
Supervisors agreed to leave information boxes on mailboxes within the district, as they are, rather than removing them. Operations will check with the postal inspector to determine if the boxes are allowed.

IDA
• Supervisors moved forward with the fourth phase of an irrigation study, contracting with LPA group for up to $156,300. Work will include reevaluating the existing watering schedule for neighborhoods and evaluating the design of the irrigation system, among other tasks.
• The district will ask Manatee County to determine if a certain property can be used for a maintanance facility.