BROWNSTOWN
A Seymour company has been recommended to mow the 25-acre town-owned cemetery in Brownstown.
A and B Mowing and Landscaping LLC of Seymour, owned by retired Seymour firefighter David Self, received a favorable recommendation from the Fairview Cemetery board. That was passed on to the Brownstown Town Council for a final vote during a recent meeting conducted via Zoom.
Cemetery board President Luke Nolting said when the previous mower, Ryan Hoene with Hoene’s Lawn and Landscape of Seymour, turned in his resignation about three weeks ago, an ad for bids was placed in the newspaper. Self was the only one to submit a bid and liability insurance.
At the time of Hoene’s resignation, Nolting said the cemetery board already had set its mowing budget at $25,000 for 2020.
Even though Nolting said Self has verbally agreed to do the mowing, town attorney Travis Thompson recommended the council have him sign a contract. A copy of the previous contract was shared with Thompson so he could make one for Self to sign.
The contract is not to exceed $26,000 and is effective during the growing season. The contract will be presented to the council at its next meeting to review and consider for approval.
Self has agreed to accept $1,300 per mowing. Nolting said Hoene typically mowed 20 times in a year.
Council members Mark Reynolds, Sharon Koch and Gary Drake expressed reservations about paying per mowing.
“I personally would like to know how many times per month they would be mowing,” Drake said. “We need to be able to stay within that budget. I’m OK with $1,300 for mowing but have to have something more concrete as to how often we’re talking about per month.”
Council President Gregg Goshorn said the money the town would use to pay for the mowing comes from tax dollars.
Clerk-Treasurer David Willey said the town spent $24,500 to have the cemetery mowed in 2019.