02-08-2017 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Keis and Members of City Council FROM: Bill Dircks, Public Works Director DATE: February 3, 2017 RE: 2017 Tree Services Contract Quotes were solicited from four tree service companies to provide tree maintenance work in Little Canada in 2017. The specifications are attached along with the quotes that were received from the two responding companies. You will notice that YTS Companies has quoted equal or lower prices for sections two through four while Precision Tree has lower pricing for section one. Precision Tree opted to break down the cost per diameter of tree into five sub-sections. YTS was informed of this and offered the same opportunity and they opted against doing so. The average cost for Precision Tree in each sub-category of section one is lower than the cost quoted by YTS. In fact, the highest price quoted by Precision Tree in each category is lower than the cost quoted by YTS. Most of our business with Precision Tree comes in section one, which is standard tree removals. This has included dead trees in the right-of-way, large trees on City property, and cleaning up trees in areas such as Sleepy Hollow Pond. Precision Tree has quoted “special bid” for a few of the sub-categories in section one. In looking back at past large tree removals they have been competitive with their pricing. Staff can get two or three bids for future large tree removals to make sure the City is getting the best price. The same can be done if there happens to be a large storm event necessitating the hauling of brush by the City. Precision Tree has noted that pricing may be up to four times higher than regular pricing. Staff believes the pricing is close enough in sections two through four to support selecting Precision Tree as the tree services provider in 2017. The difference in section one pricing coupled with the proximity of Precision Tree leads staff to recommend selecting Precision Tree as the tree services provider. They have been the tree service provider for a number of years and have always been good to work with. They do good, professional work and oftentimes are able to perform our work within a couple of days of notification because they are located in the City and are able to fit us into their schedule.