West Covina Council delays tree-contract award after bidders and council raise fairness concerns

Mayor Tony Wu opened a lengthy discussion of the city's tree trimming and maintenance contract after several local bidders and residents raised concerns about the procurement process. Staff recommended awarding a maintenance agreement to West Coast Arborists, citing the firm's scale, prior experience and emergency-response capacity; council instead voted to delay final action and direct the city's newly appointed public works director to review the file and bring recommendations back.

The issue began during staff's presentation on the request-for-proposals, when Public Works staff said they had received seven proposals, interviewed the top five finalists and concluded West Coast Arborists was the highest-ranked bidder by qualifications and capacity. "We conducted a very thorough, interview process," Public Works Superintendent Mike Cressa told the council. "Everyone presented their case ... and at that point our team felt West Coast was the most qualified." (Cressa, 01:24:16)

Bidders who lost the award argued the city's process was unfair. Scott Griffiths of Great Scott Tree Care and other firms told council they were surprised that West Coast was permitted to confirm or hold its existing rates after the public bid opening while other bidders were not given the same opportunity. "We were never given an opportunity to go negotiate our price, but the large company was," Griffiths said during public comment. He asked the council to pause the award and either rebid or allow the top-ranked firms an equal chance to submit final sealed offers. (Griffiths, public comment)

Councilmember Gutierrez pressed staff for the raw evaluation materials and said he had independently reviewed the scoring sheets for RFP 2026-01. Gutierrez…