Oxnard staff recommend $4.57 million in park maintenance contracts with Green Coast Landscapes

On May 6, 2025, Oxnard City staff recommended that the City Council approve four service agreements with Green Coast Landscapes to provide landscape maintenance for city general-fund parks, with an initial three-year term from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028, and two consecutive one-year extension options that would extend each agreement through June 30, 2030. Brandon Lopez, the city’s parks manager, told the council the total not-to-exceed amount across the four agreements is $4,570,000 and that staff recommended the mayor be authorized to execute the contracts.

The recommendation matters because the contracts would cover routine mowing, litter and debris removal, shrub and ground-cover pruning, weed control, hardscape cleaning, minor tree care and other park landscaping services across four contract areas that divide the city’s parks. City staff said the agreements also consolidate on-call landscape services formerly provided under a separate contract into the new agreements and allow task-order work for additional services when needed.

Lopez said the four individual not-to-exceed amounts are $913,000; $822,000; $1,827,000; and $1,008,000, for a combined total of $4,570,000 over the five-year maximum if extensions are exercised. He presented staff’s procurement timeline and background, noting staffing reductions before Measure E and a shift to contracted routine maintenance after Measure E’s passage in November 2020 to allow remaining parks staff to focus on repairs, renovations and irrigation work.

City staff described the procurement process: a mandatory job walk on Dec. 11, 2024, attended by seven contractors; a bid deadline of Jan. 7, 2025; and seven proposals received. Green Coast Landscapes submitted the lowest responsible bid in each of the four contract areas; staff met with Green Coast on Jan. 16, 2025, to confirm the company’s ability to meet the contract requirements. Lopez said staff verified Green Coast’s business tax certificate, insurance, and corporate filings with the California Secretary of State and noted that Green Coast already holds a separate city agreement for landscape services in water, wastewater, environmental resources divisions and the transportation center.

Lopez also reviewed prior contracts and recent amendments: the city previously awarded four-area agreements to Mariposa Landscapes on June 29, 2021, covering three-year terms that ended June 30, 2024, with a combined original total of $2,405,000. An additional agreement for on-call services was added in September 2022 with an original not-to-exceed amount of $758,919; on May 21, 2024, the city amended five park landscape agreements to increase the combined not-to-exceed value from $3,163,919 to $4,175,880 to fund services through June 30, 2025.

On annual and task-order costing, staff said the current annual cost for parks additional services is $354,384 per year; the first-year additional services budgeted under the new four agreements total $322,839, which Lopez said is $31,535 less than the current agreement. He emphasized the city is not guaranteeing the contractor will perform the additional services — task orders must be issued and work verified before payment. The proposed agreements permit a price increase by written request with supporting documentation capped at 3% per year.

Lopez concluded by stating that funding for fiscal 2025–26 and subsequent fiscal years will be requested through the city’s annual budget process and asked the council for questions. The transcript of the meeting records staff’s recommendation and presentation but does not record a formal City Council vote on the agreements.

For context, staff said the December 2024 request for bids included outreach to five potential vendors, publication on publicpurchase.com and posting on the city’s purchasing website. Staff said consolidating on-call services into these agreements is intended to increase efficiency and reduce the time required to solicit separate on-call vendors.

Quotes from the presentation reflect staff recommendation language: "Recommendation that the City Council approve and authorize the mayor to execute the following agreements with Green Coast Landscapes for an initial term of 3 years each from 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2028 with an option for 2 consecutive 1 year period extensions ending 06/30/2030," Brandon Lopez, Parks Manager.

The presentation raised implementation and budget steps for council consideration: staff must obtain budget authorization in future annual budget cycles before executing or issuing task orders that commit funds. No final action on the recommended contracts appears in the portion of the transcript provided.