CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of Change Order #1 to Option Year #2 of Contract 21-382.2-01, Parkway Tree Trimming Services, to NJ Ryan Tree & Landscape and Steve Piper and Sons, Inc., for an amount not to exceed $220,000 and a total award of $420,000
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DEPARTMENT: Department of Public Works
SUBMITTED BY: Richard Dublinski, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The City Council awarded Contract 21-283 to NJ Ryan Tree & Landscape and Steve Piper and Sons on January 4, 2022, for a one-year term from through December 1, 2022, with four, one-year options to extend. On November 15, 2022, the City Council approved the first option year. On November 21, 2023, the City Council approved the second option year. The term of the second option year is from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024, with two, one-year options remaining.
The Department of Public Works (DPW) is responsible for the care and maintenance of more than 70,000 parkway trees throughout the City. Industry best practices recommend a seven-year trimming cycle, which equates to maintenance on more than 10,000 trees per year. With the City's growth and the planting of additional right-of-way trees, DPW has been unable to perform all of the tree trimming services in-house. As such, the City uses outside contractors to supplement the in-house tree-trimming program.
Since 2012, the parkway tree canopy has increased by 37%. Over the past few years, DPW's Forestry Division has not been able to complete tree trimming as planned because of frequent storm clean-ups such as the Father's Day tornado in 2021, an increase in the number of tree removals, stump grinding and additional leaf pick-up cycles. Due to a reduction in the number of trees trimmed by both the contractor and in-house crews over the past years, DPW is now on a nine- to 10-year tree trimming cycle. This has resulted in more than 1,100 service requests for trimming and downed branches pe...
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