By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Finance and Judicial Committee voted in favor of recommending the city split the cost of a landscaping project at Matheson Memorial Library with the library and the library Friends at its Feb. 27 meeting.
The committee’s decision to split the cost came with the caveat that not only would $500 of the project come from the library’s budget, but also that before work commenced, the library would return with proposals from three other landscaping firms for the city’s review.
Library Director Lisa Selje told committee members the landscaping project would replace shrubs along the library on the building’s west side, where Elkhorn Department of Public Works employees removed shrubs last year, with foundation plantings. Selje said the proposal from B&J Landscape included the cost of plants, labor and equipment, removal of existing stumps, preparation of the planting bed and installing plants and materials at a total cost of $5,832.
Selje said the Friends of Matheson Memorial Library had met in February and approved paying half of the project, $2,916. With only $1,000 in the library’s budget for outside projects, she was requesting the city cover the second half of the cost. Selje said the $1,000 in the library’s budget had already been earmarked for the children’s garden on the south side of the library.
Alderman Hoss Rehberg said not only would he have liked to see more than a single proposal from one landscaping firm, but he would also like to see the city’s Department of Public Works be more involved in the project, noting that it’s more in the department’s “area of expertise,” especially when it comes to cleaning up the area before planting as the department rents a stump grinder every year. Because of this, Rehberg said in the proposal from the landscaping firm, he would like to see costs broken down, pointing specifically to the cost of various aspects of the project.
“Depending on what we’re getting charged for grinding the stumps, maybe that’s something where DPW could come into play here,” he said. “Let’s get more of a detailed proposal here so that if DPW does have time early this spring, they can do some of this.”
Rehberg said with the plans for the project already set to go, he would like to see proposals from several other landscaping firms as well, just to see what they might be able to offer in comparison to B&J Landscape.
Alderman Tom Myrin asked Department of Public Works Manager Neal Kolb if he felt there was anything within the scope of the project in terms of removing existing plantings that the city couldn’t handle itself.
Kolb said he wouldn’t be comfortable bringing in a backhoe to pull out the plantings with the library’s foundation so close, yet he said if it works out better numbers-wise, the department does rent a stump grinder each year and it’s something he wouldn’t have a problem with handling.
Myrin also asked Selje if Master Gardeners associated with the library, whom Selje said could handle maintenance of the new plantings, would potentially have any interest in planting the new plants with the possibility of saving money on installation. Selje said it’s certainly a possibility that Master Gardeners would have interest in planting some of the smaller plantings.
A motion to recommend the Friends group pays for half the project, the library contributes $500 and the city foots the remainder of the bill was passed unanimously by the committee. Also included in the motion, the library would be required to present three more proposals on top of the proposal already submitted by B&J Landscape.
