The Blue Ridge City Council voted to cancel the Grass Maintenance Contract Tuesday, September 8.
After disputing over the contract during a workshop prior to the council meeting, Council members Nathan Fitts, Rhonda Haight and Harold Herndon agreed the written contract does not align with what was discussed verbally.
In a nutshell, the cost of the services are almost triple what the council had thought they were approving, and that was not clear until reviewing the 2021 budget, which alloted $96,000 for grass maintenance, according to Haight.
According to the contract, the city may terminate the contract for any reason with a 90 day’s advance notice, or with a 30 day written notice in the event a city is impaired by war, natural disaster, catastrophe or another emergency.
The city may also terminate the agreement if either party is found to be in default with a 30 days written notice or receipt.
Councilman Mike Panter met with the company’s founder, Roland Vaughn, to renegotiate the contract.
Vaughn agreed to reduce his fee in half for January, February, March, November and December of next year if the city would agree to an additional year contract.
With the fees cut in half for those months, it would bring the cost to $76,000 a year.
Still unsatisfied, Haight proposed hiring a full time employee to do the work.
“I would be fine if Roland was only charging what I thought he was charging, which was for the eight months,” Haight said.
She added that the employee would be able to help with other things throughout the week as well.
Mayor Donna Whitener said another employee would cost $54,000 a year.
“One employee cannot do this by themselves,” Whitener said. “Look at the sides of the streets now. Have you drove around lately? They’re lookin’ pretty rough.”
The city’s Streets Department currently mows along the streets, and Haight said they are currently short staffed with one employee out.
Panter said that after looking into the agreement and checking out alternatives, he would not recommend terminating the contract.
Haight moved to renegotiate the contract to “what we thought he was doing originally” which is for services eight months out of the year at $8,000 a month.
She added that if the company does not agree the contract should be terminated immediately.
Panter said he doesn’t expect Vaughn to accept that offer.
Councilwoman Robbie Cornelius and Panter opposed the motion.