Rapid grass growth and at times wet ground conditions over spring and into summer has meant the Waitaki District Council parks contractor, Downer, has struggled to keep up with its maintenance programme.
In his regular Friday Oamaru Mail column, Mr Kircher said he had become increasingly frustrated with the ongoing issues, which stretch back to 2016 when Downer was awarded the council’s parks contract over Whitestone Contracting Ltd.
The council-controlled organisation based in Alma, south of Oamaru, held the contract to maintain the council’s parks, gardens, cemeteries, sports fields and public toilets for several years before the switch.
The changes save ratepayers $450,000 a year for the duration of the contract — a three-year term, with a two-year rollover.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times on Thursday, Mr Kircher said he, like many other ratepayers who had vented their frustrations to him, councillors and on social media, had had enough.
"It’s been an issue that I’ve been defending in the community and trying to make clear that is not about the change of contractor. The expectation of standards is very much the same. The contracts are very similar in the standard that is required," Mr Kircher said.
"There have been issues of strong growth over the last three springs and summer has continued to be a high-growth period. The second year [2017] wasn’t ideal ... This year there’s just too many issues that are not being resolved. It’s at the stage where the best thing to do is let them [ratepayers] know we are as equally as frustrated."
He said ratepayers "deserved better than they have been getting".
Mr Kircher also questioned why garden plots at the town’s cemeteries did not look their best, when there was ample time to tend them when grass was too wet to cut.
He said the council’s parks team and Downer had "good people" on the ground and acknowledged they had performed well in some areas, but were "not resourced well enough" in others.
"They are not dealing with high-growth seasons, which, by now, they should have a plan in place to deal with."
Mr Kircher said potential action ranged from "doing nothing to the contract being at risk".
The council would continue to monitor Downer’s progress, he said.
The winning contract price from Downer was $1,641,029.38 a year.
