Svoboda's contract for median landscaping extended

By DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star

Blame it on the poppy mallow.

The purple-and-white perennial has been so difficult to grow on east Lincoln medians the mayor extended a landscaping contract, delaying damages to give the contractor time to try — again — to grow the plants.

This wouldn’t be news, except the contract belongs to Councilman Ken Svoboda’s family-owned landscaping company.

Svoboda is running for mayor in Tuesday’s primary election.

Nearly a year ago, public works director Karl Fredrickson took the unusual step of threatening to terminate Svoboda’s company’s median landscape maintenance contracts because he said the medians were overrun with weeds.

He gave Svoboda time to get the medians in order, and the contracts were salvaged.

But Svoboda’s median troubles didn’t end there.

This time, the mayor signed a change order because Fredrickson said Ray’s Lawn and Home Care didn’t perform on a contract to install landscaping on several blocks of 84th Street between South Street and Montello Court.

The work was supposed to have been done two years ago and still isn’t complete, Fredrickson said.

Change orders aren’t that unusual on city contracts, especially on big construction projects. But this change order is different in that it doesn’t change a part specification or change the type of trees to be planted, for example.

Svoboda said the only reason he hasn’t completed the contract is the poppy mallow the city specified has been difficult to get established, even though it’s supposed to thrive in hot, sunny locations.

Everything else — from trees to buffalo grass — are fine, he said.

“We have replanted multiple times to try to get them established,” he said, noting the perennials have struggled on other city medians in east Lincoln.

Both sides agreed to extend the contract until everyone is satisfied, he said. He didn’t think a change order was necessary, but said it was done so everything would be transparent.

“I’m not (satisfied) and obviously the city is not,” he said.

Poppy mallows will be replanted again within the next two weeks, he said.

“We’ve done everything we’ve been asked to do at great cost to our company,” Svoboda said.

But Fredrickson said some of the plants have died and some haven’t been planted, so Svoboda never reached the number of plants required by the contract.

And while any landscaper would have had trouble establishing plants during recent drought years, Fredrickson said, the poppy mallow is a prairie plant.

“We didn’t have a contract with the poppy mallows,” he said.

In an effort to resolve the matter, earlier this month the mayor and Svoboda signed the change order, extending the completion date and altering the terms of the contract.

The change order says:

• The city will deduct damages due to costs associated with an outside consultant’s time and for past and projected staff time dealing with the contract. The city said it had accrued $12,483 in damages as of March 7.
  
  



• Daily liquidated damages will be increased from $100 a day to $200 a day if Svoboda doesn’t get the work finished by May 1.
  
  



• Ray’s must provide the city with a $75,000 letter of credit, on which the city can draw if Ray’s defaults on the contract. The credit line would replace the performance bond, which contractors provide as a form of insurance that they will complete jobs. Performance bonds can be difficult to collect, however.
  
  



• The completion date was extended to May 1 (coincidentally, the date when the next mayor will be elected).
  
  



• In exchange for all of the above, the city agreed not to pursue collection of liquidated damages that had accrued as of March 7.
  
  

The city has hired contractors to maintain medians for about six years, since it started sprucing them up with flowers, shrubs and grasses.

The drought has been hard on the medians, most of which aren't irrigated, and sometimes the weeds get ahead of contractors. The city doesn’t have as many median contracts due to budget constraints.

The situation puts Fredrickson in an awkward position because, if Svoboda is elected mayor, he would be his boss. And the mayor can terminate directors such as Fredrickson for any reason.

Mayor Coleen Seng appointed Fredrickson two years ago.

“It’s a position I don’t desire to be in but it’s part of the job to administer contracts and I do my job,” he said. “If Ken gets to be mayor, I’ll do my job with any contract the same way. He’s not gonna be treated any differently because he’s on council or mayor.”

In his mayoral campaign, Svoboda has touted his experience running a business.

But Eric Fought, communications director for the Nebraska Democratic Party, said the change order “says a lot about Ken Svoboda’s ability to effectively run a business.”

“Where I come from, you get the job done in the time allotted, or you don’t get paid,” said Fought, who provided a copy of the change order to the Journal Star.

“The city has given Ken Svoboda more second chances than a cat has lives. Lincoln needs a leader who will get the job done, not someone who keeps passing the buck.”

Svoboda said the Democrats are politicizing the situation.

But Fredrickson said politics has nothing to do with the matter.

“You got a contract and you got two parties. All I am doing is trying to administer the contract to final completion for the benefit of the taxpayer. I may be appointed, but I’m not here for the politics.”

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.