Merced Mysteries & Minutiae: Residents frustrated with landscaping service and city’s response

Merced resident Gary Derr got tired of seeing the landscaping in his neighborhood looking unkempt, so he took matters into his own hands and contacted City Hall.

Derr lives in the Silverado subdivision off Yosemite Avenue between Parsons Avenue and McKee Road. Residents in the subdivision pay about $100 a year to have the landscaping in dividers and other places trimmed, mowed, weeded and kept free of litter.

The city contracts with Yard Masters Inc., a Merced landscaping company, for weekly and monthly services in certain subdivisions.

Before raising his concerns at a City Council meeting, Derr said, “Trash, debris, animal droppings and weeds have not been touched in over a month, if not longer.”

After Derr went before the council, the city’s former public works director, Stan Murdock, walked the neighborhood with Derr to hear his complaints.

Derr said Yard Masters employees were out the next week working on the landscaping, but still don’t come routinely as their contract directs. The grounds on Parsons and Yosemite did improve a bit after that, Derr said, but they still look terrible on McKee.

Q: How do residents make sure their tax money is being well-spent and city contracts are being fulfilled?

A: City officials say Derr did the right thing.

“We try to respond to people as we hear complaints,” said Mike Conway, a city spokesman. “When people call us and let us know what their issues are, we respond and investigate.”

Ken Elwin, recently appointed as public works director, said when Derr spoke to the council, it wasn’t the first time he’d heard about landscaping issues in the Silverado subdivision.

So he drove out to the subdivision, but from what Elwin could see, there weren’t any major issues with the landscaping.

“I haven’t seen too much that needs to be kept up,” Elwin said. “I drove out there a month ago and didn’t see anything that needed to be mowed.”

But Derr said the problems have persisted.

A message left with Yard Masters on Friday afternoon wasn’t returned.

“If it was city money, I wouldn’t be as concerned,” Derr said. “But it’s not city money. It’s a tax directly on us (residents) that we pay to the city of Merced.”

Derr said leaves sat in the street for months, so he complained. The leaves were swept into piles, but not removed for another week or so.

Conway said the leaf-sweeping isn’t a Yard Masters responsibility.

The city has a leaf pickup schedule, but during December and January storms, crews were diverted to make sure gutters and drains were cleaned to prevent flooding.

“We were basically going into winter-storm mode to make sure everything was geared up so the streets didn’t flood and so trees weren’t knocked down,” Conway said. “So yes, the (leaf sweep) schedule became a little bit sporadic, but we were reacting to the damages that were coming.”

Councilman Josh Pedrozo said he went out and walked the neighborhood and did notice some mow strips full of weeds and trees that were dead.

But that’s beyond the city’s control or Yard Masters’ control, he said.

“A lot of that has to do with winter dormancy right now and water restrictions put in place per the governor’s recommendation,” Pedrozo said. “I know it’s frustrating to see that.”

Pedrozo said there have been similar concerns about maintenance in other parts of the city. Vocal residents who see the problems every day are part of the solution, he said.

“I understand some of the concerns,” he said. “We need to make sure we’re addressing those concerns and make sure (companies such as Yard Masters) are fulfilling their end of the agreement.”

This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Merced Mysteries & Minutiae: Residents frustrated with landscaping service and city’s response."