Ipswich City Council makes changes to its mowing procedures after above average summer rainfall resulted in overgrown parks, paths

Councillors admitted the mowing of overgrown paths and parks this summer was not good enough. Here’s what they’re planning to do about it

Ipswich City Council has moved to make changes to its mowing processes to address residents’ concerns about overgrown paths and parks.

IPSWICH City Council has moved to make changes to its mowing processes after a wetter than average January saw the organisation struggle to get on top of residents’ requests to trim green spaces across the city.

Councillors voted unanimously at Thursday’s meeting to introduce the changes.

This will involve the council considering increasing its service standards from a nine weekly cycle to a six weekly cycle at an added cost of $550,000 a year.

Ipswich 2020-21 rainfall with 30-year average

The council will consider allocating money in the budget for the formation of two ‘flying mowing crews’, which will respond directly to resident requests and overdue mowing on top of regular scheduled work.

The council will also consider putting funds towards hiring more mowing contractors to meet demand in busy periods.

A report to councillors notes local roads are mown every nine weeks, major thoroughfares every three weeks, and unmade roads and natural areas every nine weeks.

“Ipswich City Council is somewhat unique in mowing the local roads network city wide. Many other councils provide this service by exception or for residents who are experiencing hardship,” the report notes.

Councillors acknowledged in February that the level of service was not meeting the community’s expectations with the highest number of complaints in January coming from Redbank Plains, Augustine Heights and Raceview.

It is hoped these changes will reduce the reliance on contractors, which were highlighted as a reason for the council’s inability to deal with the abundance of grass which shot up during a wet January.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s advice was that southeast Queensland would receive higher than average rainfall in the summer.

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“The projected high rainfall did not arrive in the early stages of the Spring/Summer season, with the first above average rainfall occurring in December 2020, which was followed up with a wetter than average January as well,” the report notes.

“This pattern of rainfall has resulted in high levels of grass growth, concentrated over a period of a handful of weeks, which has led to a number of challenges in resourcing the team to respond in a timely manner, particularly with respect to contractors, as outlined in the follow section.

“During peak mowing periods the preferred contractor has become overwhelmed by the workloads and has been unable to complete the work to the required service levels.

“The recent drought has further stressed the ability of contractors to provide resourcing during peak periods, as many contractors have downsized their operations (reducing staff and plant) or diversified their service offerings and/or client base.

“All of these factors has reduced the ability of the market to be flexible and respond in a prompt manner to peak mowing seasons.”

The council’s field staff is made up of 49 workers split across eight maintenance teams who maintain Ipswich’s open spaces.

Overtime and weekend work was approved to try and get on top of the workload.

Extra contingent labour - with four added for a total of 13 workers - were brought on to deal with extra demand in the summer.

The two ‘flying mowing crews’ will be made of two full-time workers each and will cost $175,00 a year per team.

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Council officers say the cost of these crews will be offset through saving on the usual spend on contractors and reduced overtime spend for other staff when they are in place.

“(They) would assist with addressing the unpredictable nature of the mowing service and can be funded under the proposed increased service standards,” the report notes.

“(They will) respond to overdue mows on the schedule and (resident) requests increasing the open space team’s ability to meet customer expectations.

“The current reliance on contractors to ramp up their operations within the small window between a rain event (which cannot be predicted) and the grass growth is not effective.

“Contractors need greater lead times to resource their operations (both staff and plant), however such lead times are impossible to provide.

“The current 2020-2021 mowing season is a great example of this issue.”

Division 3 councillor Andrew Fechner said he was confident the changes combined with “more men on the ground” would provide a better level of service for residents for future summers.

“It’s a really, really great option for doing better next year, for doing better next mowing season as well,” he said.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Ipswich City Council makes changes to its mowing procedures after above average summer rainfall resulted in overgrown parks, paths