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Governing board approves BrightView contract for district grounds maintenance, staff say investment will free crews for interior campus work
Summary
The governing board approved a contract with BrightView Landscaping to provide turf management and weed control for TUSD elementary, K‑8 and middle school fields. Administration said the $589,497.36 proposal will allow the district to reassign heavy‑equipment operators to other maintenance tasks and address persistent fence-line and weed issues.
The Tucson Unified School District governing board on Jan. 28 approved a contract with BrightView Landscaping for turf management and weed abatement at elementary, K‑8 and middle school sites.
Facilities staff presented a proposal valued at $589,497.36 to provide biweekly mowing and fence‑line trimming during the growing season (May–October), plus pre‑ and post‑emergent weed treatments and contingency plans for monsoon interruptions. Staff said the service excludes high schools, which have separate grounds staffing.
Facilities director Greg Meyer said BrightView committed to extra crews and weekend work during monsoon months to keep sites on schedule. Chief Operations Officer Blaine Young told the board the contract will allow the district to reassign three heavy‑equipment operators to other tasks such as dead‑tree removal, playground bark replenishment and cement finishing.
Grounds supervisor Tony Roman described a prolonged staffing and equipment shortage, saying some district dump trucks are more than 30 years old and that the department has struggled to maintain large fields. Roman said BrightView’s work in a prior short engagement “helped us a lot” and that the contract will help the district address overgrowth and fence‑line maintenance.
Board members asked whether the district had analyzed the cost of hiring additional staff and buying equipment instead of contracting. Staff said an internal analysis showed adding staffing and a “white fleet” of equipment would be significantly more expensive and would include ongoing personnel costs; administrators said a one‑year contract would give the district time to evaluate a longer‑term solution and to consider funding in future capital requests.
Questions about herbicide use were answered by BrightView representatives, who said the firm offers several weed‑abatement options ranging from manual removal to chemical treatments and would work to align products with district preferences. TUSD’s procurement team said BrightView was the only vendor on the cooperative contract with the scale and qualifications to manage all sites.
Board President Natalie Ekstrom moved the item; the motion was seconded by Mr. Romero and carried unanimously.
