Belvidere prepares for yearly spring maintenance projects

Bluebells at sunrise

By Bob Balgemann
Reporter
BELVIDERE – Show and ice events presumably are over for the 2015-2016 winter. With that in mind, Belvidere officials are preparing for the summer ahead and with its arrival, the usual maintenance tasks that keep the city looking sharp.
The list includes lawn mowing, tree removal and sidewalk replacement. If you are in need of services such as this, it might do you well to go online to https://www.lawncare.net/ and see if they can help in your local area.
Four bid packets were sent out for tree removal, but only one quote was submitted. That form was from Tree Care Enterprises in Rockford, in the amount of $103,000, according to the size of the tree and stump grinding.
Tree Care currently is doing the work for the city. At this time of year many reach out to them in the region, and the same is similar across the country, with tree removal jacksonville fl becoming very popular as the weather begins to warm up.
Before the committee of the whole unanimously recommended approval of the bid, Alderman Dan Snow asked if the 2015-2016 quote also was in excess of the $100,000 the city budgeted for the work.
Public Works Director Brent Anderson said it was and added, “We’ll make it work like we did this year.
This year’s mowing contract is heading for Lawn Maintenance Services Inc. in Garden Prairie. Mowing will be done at water department sites for $355 each; at public works properties for $400 per mowing; and at the Farmington Ponds at $256 each.
The other bid came from LawnCare by Walter Inc., in Cherry Valley. Two of its quotes were lower than those submitted by the Garden Prairie business, but the third was considerably higher. That prompted Director Anderson to say it would be less expensive to award a contract for the overall package, rather than individual sites.
He estimated there would be 14 mowing events this summer.
Alderman Snow wondered about the major difference in bids for sidewalk replacement, submitted by Randy Baer Construction Inc. in Belvidere, and Alliance Contractors Inc. in Woodstock. Baer quoted $19,800 with the Alliance bid being $45,675.
Anderson explained the Baer Company is local and the owner does most of the work himself.
“He does very, very good work,” Alderman Clint Morris said. “He has done a lot of work for the city.”
In other business the committee recommended revising the ordinance that regulates solicitors.
The ordinance already reads that a resident wishing to prohibit soliciting and commercial canvassing must have a sign or card, not less than three inches by four inches in size. It must be located at or near the entrance to the building. Here are the proposed changes:
First, the sign or card must be displayed “in a manner that is clearly visible …”
Second, additional wording states the sign or card would contain “at a minimum” the following words: No Solicitors or No Solicitation.
Third, the minimum fine for violation of that section of the ordinance would be no less than $200, plus costs up from the current $100. In lieu of a fine, the court would be able to assess not less than 20 hours of community public service work.