City Green completes mulching program; district adds quarterly checks for grounds work

District staff told the facilities committee that City Green, the district's new grounds contractor, has completed initial mulching at 50 schools and will finish the remaining sites in the next two weeks.

Ben Coulter, who briefed the committee on grounds and landscaping, said the contractor is placing three inches of mulch at each school and that the work was paused briefly for rain. “They have completed 50 schools so far,” Coulter said. He said the vendor will return annually and that, after the initial placement, the contractor will return in January–February to apply a top coat.

Staff said City Green had been a subcontractor under the prior contractor and now works under a direct contract. The district created a grounds concern form for principals and school staff; Coulter said the district had received 32 such entries since July 1, most common requests being mowing schedules and similar routine maintenance, and that most issues were resolved within one or two days.

The district will include grounds in quarterly customer satisfaction surveys and said it had clarified custodial and grounds scope expectations with principals (for instance, spot‑mopping and weekly full mopping frequencies), an effort staff said would likely increase reported complaints initially while raising baseline expectations.

Why it matters: Grounds work affects school appearance, safety and stormwater management; the district said it will keep monitoring responsiveness and will measure contractor performance with the same quarterly satisfaction process planned for custodial and other vendors.