Private Mowers Saving Wichita Money

April 12, 2010

by Kim Hynes (WICHITA, Kan.)

While most of us are breaking out our lawn mowers, the City of Wichita's are sitting idle. For the first time, the city has contracted its mowing out to private companies. The changes are supposed to save the city $1 million.

Instead of using city employees, the city hired seven companies to pick up trash and mow grass. The private companies will maintain about 75% of Wichita's 6,000 acres. "I think it's a good deal. This is an opportunity to keep me employed locally," said Buck Egbert. He works for one of the private mowing companies.

On top of providing work to local companies, the change is also saving the city money. The goal was $1 million but Parks Director Doug Kupper says it's actually closer to $1.8 million. "We're real happy," he said. Kupper is also happy because the change didn't cause layoffs. He says 46 of the 50 city mowers were transferred to other departments. He says the other four chose to leave.

Kupper says even though they've changed who is mowing the grass, the quality of work is expected to be the same. He says the goal is for citizens not to notice any difference at parks or on right of ways. If you do notice anything, Kupper says they want to hear from you.

City inspectors will inspect all of the mowing work weekly to make sure it meets the proper standards. Kupper says they do their best but also depend on citizens to keep an eye out. He says the savings won't be worth it if the properties are not well maintained.

The seven companies were hired through a bidding process. Kupper says before awarding the contracts, they inspected to make sure the companies had all of the equipment they said they did. He says this year will be a bit of an experiment but so far it seems to be going well.

The city has moth balled most of its mowing equipment. Kupper says they're holding onto it for now just in case the new system doesn't work out. He says parks and recreation staff will still maintain most of the athletic fields in town.

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