Payment for contracted work completed by Elegant Lawncare came up for payment.

Councilman Murphy stated that we are consistently not paying this contractor timely -- sometimes for many months after the bill for payment has been submitted.

Councilman Higgins stated that if the fact that our contractor is not being paid is because of an employee then Duchane needs to explain why.

Councilman Valso states that the work for which the bill is sent in for was NOT confirmed.

Duchane states that the contractor is not the issue but the records are not matching. Duchane states that the program is now fixed whereas before he came on board, this program was poorly done.

Duchane has asked the contractor for pictures and other information in order to finish the cross checking.

Duchane confirms that the problem is not with the contractor.

The problems are similar to:

One address was improperly recorded by the city the billing went to the wrong property owner; this are the kinds of problems that caused Duchane to not pay the Pride Contractor.

Councilman Murphy recommends that we pay this contractor's bills which are from November and that it is not right that our contractor suffers because we have employee issues.

Councilman Disanto brought up the fact that the city paid the sidewalk contractor that was held up for months and finally M/C approved the invoice being paid.

Councilman Higgins asks point blank from Duchane that is it correct that the mistakes have been made by city employees and not the contractor.

Duchane confirms this to be the fact and states that
money should be released to the contractor.

M/C vote to release payment without stipulations.

In the amount of $12478.41

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"Sometimes we must serve in order to lead"
by Unknown

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Question came up tonight regarding during the Accounts and Claims payable.

For some reason the city has been holding up paying the Pride contractor for work performed. Some of these billings go back to November.

From what was said, the contractor did nothing wrong. It was the fault of the city on checking items or entering data,etc.

So why were they holding up payment? Retirements or not, if the contractor did the job he deserves to be paid.

The city owed the contractor over $12,000. If this is how the city treats its own contractors, I can imagine how they treat businesses.

BTW: Don't forget all the controversy started by Vaslo during the contract bid. He accused the contractor of winning the last contract through "backroom deals" I wonder if this holding of the check was another Vaslo Special?

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amonestar la yocorazo

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I think Councilman Mario DiSanto asked some very wel thought out questions and very tough questions.

Councilman Mario DiSanto pointed out that on one occasion the contractor cleaned the wrong yard. This was not the fault of the contractor, but the city sent him to the wrong house.

So we the taxpayer will have to pay for the cleaning of a yard that should not have been touched. I think the person responsible for this should be disciplined.

Councilman Mario DiSanto is doing his job. I for one am very proud the have him as my Councilman.

I thank you.

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Collect the Back Tax, put Ms Lulko on the job.
Councilman Mario DiSanto. In your heart, you know he's right.

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I didn't see the meeting due to an usher meeting. Did Vaslo keep quiet the whole time except for that one statement?

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Vaslo didn't say anything the entire night. Quiet as a church mouse

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The contractor used to wait 6 months to get paid. He has stated in the past he needs his money to pay employees and cover expenses.

I thought the DPS was supposed to check out the work before it is paid for.

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If pro is the opposite of con? would CONgress be the oppositeof PROgress?

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How embarassing is this? 6 months and still no payment. Give the man his money and then if things aren't right offset it with the next billings. Duchane even stated that this is not the contractors fault, but the cities. Couldn't this contractor sue us for non-payment?

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"I'm sick and tired of hearing things from uptight, short sighted, narrow minded hypocrites. All I want is the truth, Just gimme some truth"

- John Lennon

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Here is how I understand the way Pride works.

Let's take a case of tall grass.

A complaint is made on a property for tall grass. The Ordinance Officer goes to the property confirms the tall grass, goes back to city to confirm the owner of the property, once the owner is confirmed he is issued a ticket.

The owner has so many days to cut the grass. If it is not cut in that time frame, then it is turned over to the Pride Contractor.

The Pride Contractor then comes out and cuts the grass. Once the job is completed, someone from DPS comes to the site and confirms the job is completed.

Both DPS and the contractor will take before and after pictures.

Obviously the contractor is not riding down the street and mowing yards at random. If the city is not inspecting the property after the work is done, then shame on them. That is not the fault of the contractor, it is the fault of the city for not doing their job.

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It sounded like it was one address . they could have held the charges for the disputed property and paid for everything else. I don't think people realized how bad the service was from our DPS .last year .

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Service being bad from the DPS was no reason to withhold payment from the contractor.

I would be hard pressed to believe this holding of the check didn't involve someone working behind the scenes

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