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Century Removes Towering Pine Trees From Park In No-Bid, Over Budget Job
October 25, 2019
The Town of Century has removed towering longleaf pine trees from Nadine McCaw Park under a no-bid contract that came in 40 percent over budget.
The council budgeted $5,000 to remove the pines from the park, but once the contractor started it was determined it would cost an additional $2,000 for a total of $7,000.
The job was awarded by the town council Donnie Smith Tree Service of Pensacola without advertising or requesting additional proposals.
“Tree removal work is historically provided by Donnie Smith Tree Service, who is familiar with city operations and is the only tree removal service known to staff to have the capability of removing the subject trees on short notice,” according to a memorandum from Interim City Manager Buzz Eddy.
Eddy told the council the trees were being removed because of concerns over wind damage. He said if the trees were to fall, they would damage town property and structures in the park, or they could be a danger to traffic on North Century Boulevard.
The town plans to plant new trees in the future, Eddy said.
Nadine McCaw Park, formerly known as Roadside Park, is along North Century Boulevard at Hecker Road in the heart of Century. The park was renamed for late town council member and lifelong resident Nadine McCaw in 2012. McCaw dedicated a large amount of time to Relay for Life and its mission of finding a cure for cancer. That cure did not come soon enough for McCaw; she passed away from cancer on July 7, 2011.
Pictured: Before (below) and after (above) photos of Nadine McCaw park in Century. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
44 Responses to “Century Removes Towering Pine Trees From Park In No-Bid, Over Budget Job”
What is truly Sad about this is that the good folks in Century have been cheated and Lied to so much that even if this is above board no one believes anything that happens with this Government Just Saying.
REGARDING:
“i’m confused, as to how such a small needle can dissipate carbon dioxide”
Needles are the leaves of pine trees. They combine sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to form sugars which trees combine to form the components of wood. Until the wood rots or burns, it has removed from the atmosphere the carbon dioxide which was involved.
(Each needle is small. Each tree probably has fewer than a million needles, but their effect adds up. There’s around three trillion (3,000,000,000,000) trees on Earth — give or take a few billion. It adds up even though most trees are MUCH smaller than a 6,000 ton sequoia.)
David for answering questions asked
Wow. Why not have a few of the local tree surgeons place their bids like the neighboring towns? I mean there are two or three surgeons within a 15 miles radius that could have gotten the job done.
Tree service made 5 thousand Hawkins made 2 thousand maybe one day town of century will change council members sorry Hawkins gotta get u out of there before you and ur friends completely drains century residents
A little bit more history of the park… the land was originally donated for use as a park by the McDavid family. All four corners of the intersection was owned by members of the same family that the community of McDavid is named after. The homes on the other three corners are the ones owned by the McDavids. The welcome center was home to Frances Rebecca “Fannie” McDavid Harrison and her husband Joseph Parmer Harrison – my great grandparents.
if you go to the trouble of removing the trees, what about the stumps? are other trees going to be planted? who decided to do this?
I’m starting to wonder how big this scheme really is?
Can an audit be made public?
Dangerous tall pine trees are gone. Good job, now get rid of the stumps and plant Good Park type trees that look nice and give shade. Some times the price of a job is more than expected. Get the job done fully budgeted or not. Each October Make the town a budget. Put it in a drawer and go and run the town. just saying
Alternate caption: Trees Double in Size Overnight: Emergency Contract Required!!!
What a shame. I took my lunch there dozens of times because of the shade. Same ole same ole with the Century government. Nothing is changing. When they repair the sewage plant the first thing that should be done is run the town officials through it and see if it can separate the crap for us.
I thought the paper mill bought tree’s like that, guess not. But there are other tree varieties that offer more shade and are better suited for a park. As for the stumps, turn them into flower beds and they’ll rot much faster. The issue is the money, not a few less pine tree’s. No one has ever said ” let’s go to the park and relax under the pine tree’s.”
So, if a tree is at risk of falling onto to something during a high wind, maybe we should cut down all the trees east of the mississippi river. The trees are at risk when hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms hit. Maybe all trees should be cut down because of this risk. Crazy, just crazy.
@ Chelleepea: I guess i’m confused, as to how such a small needle can dissipate carbon dioxide. I guess that’s why I’m not a scientist lol.
A town founded by a sawmill cutting the remnants of what was once a great forest.
Follow the money.
Money to cut trees
Money to remove stumps
Money to plant new trees.
Protect the park by removing the reason to go to the park. Brilliant.
David for wisdom
REGARDING:
“Would someone please explain why the trees were removed if there was nothing wrong with them?”
Quite simple, They might fall down if a tornado hit them dead on and might fall on something nearby which the tornado somehow didn’t also destroy.
David for longleaf pines
Pine trees and the children of lesser Gods.
A savage innocence.
Did some one get tired of raking pine straw and have a bright idea to cut them down? If they were a danger the road crew from the county does it for free. Even the council could have said no, we aren’t going to pay this no bid contract that was ADDED on to.
Just when you think things may turn around something like this happens. Who solicited their services? Buz or Henry or the park superintendent?
Who is Don the tree butcher?
I smell a rat.
Who decided to do this. Did the mayor do it and Buzz is covering for him. It looks like an other idiot decision. Once it’s done then what is the council to do if it has a bill in front of it. No bid contract. If Buzz is behind this this yes, it seems he is in on it for the the money also beyond the capitol trust favor. What a shame. Plant more trees pronto buzz saw.
Definition of arborist: “a specialist in the care and maintenance of trees.”
The Town has an adopted Tree Ordinance. What happened to due diligence?
@Chris…..all trees take in carbon dioxide, a green house gas, and create clean oxygen . ……..
If they were there during Ivan and survived the tornadoes, then there wasn’t a problem. These so called elected leaders are just nuts people.
Would someone please explain why the rees were removed if there was nothing wrong with them?
“Tree removal work is historically provided by Donnie Smith Tree Service, who is familiar with city operations and is the only tree removal service known to staff to have the capability of removing the subject trees on short notice,”
I know of several tree services that do removal on short notice (2-3 days).
Who’s decision was it to remove the trees? Council member or Mr Eddy? We’re the trees diseased? Why was is short notice? Was this on the agenda? Is Showalter Park next?? The park was the nicest looking spot in town.
“help with green house gases” how do pine needles help with greenhouse gasses?
NO COMMUNICATION OR PLANNING… WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? WHY DID THE TOWN SPEND MONEY THAT THEY DON’T HAVE. VERY CONCERNED……
(1) damaged the structures are worth more than the trees. Even the Lorax could see that.
(2) The article clearly explains that the contractor who removed the trees was a known quantity. awarding no-bids to a known good faith actor is actually a non-issue – it happens all the time. seriously, the people up there complain because the government doesn’t act fast enough, and then when it does, they complain because it acted too fast. which do you prefer – 12 thousand total to remove the trees and repair the structures at the park, or over 50 thousand to rebuild the structures when the trees fell on them? math wins, cut down the trees.
(3) the 40 percent over budget is also a non issue – particularly when the estimate did not know in advance that one of the trees was close to unmakred underground utilities and would have to be removed by grinding later and not just yanked out.
(4) new trees which would grow into nice shade are quite inexpensive, and frankly it needed to be done anyways.
Those longleaf pines are known to live for a very long time and stand even the worse storms as long as they are healthy.
Guess the LOONS that run the place can see the future or something as the price to cut those trees should have been a NET GAIN if you did cut them.
The wood is worth a good bit of money and could have been used to make a few projects to earn even more money.
is century a democrat area? They show love to spend money,, OTHER peoples money.
Let me grasp this.
You are cutting down the trees, with no bidding, shady, because no one else in the whole world could do it…..under the table money…then jack up the price instead of making the contractor abide by the price….take him to court…then you are going to plant new trees……that are just what….compared to the ones cut down.
Oh, I forgot.
This is Century…good ole boy system where pockets are never empty
People of Century deserve what they voted for
Pines are so lightweight compared to our oaks and sycamores, and actually help control ground moisture in areas prone to constant or too much soil moisture caused by heavy Rain. They also tend to have great root systems. Now the city faces possible liability for someone tripping over the stumps. No-bid contracts to the same contractor sound fishy. Any reputable tree service could have been contracted, especially to include stump removal and soil leveling.
Since the trees were not called out as diseased or damaged, what would have been so bad about a bidding process? I smell the ever-present smell of favoritism and “we’ve always done it this way”-ism in Century. Isn’t that what got them into the situation they’re in now????
We all know what the EXTRA 2000 was for…..REBATE
I agree with Well.
It looks awful with all the trees down and the stumps just sticking up all over the place. Sad day for all.
Century continues with the circus.
“Tree removal work is historically provided by Donnie Smith Tree Service, who is familiar with city operations and is the only tree removal service known to staff to have the capability of removing the subject trees on short notice,” according to a memorandum from Interim City Manager Buzz Eddy.”
Historically Century has a lot of money problems. Why was there a rush for tree service instead of a bid? I think the rush should be to replace eddy…
If a job is bid on and awarded, then begun, there is NO legal basis for an increase in the price agreed upon fr the work specified! People who cut and remove trees make money off cut trees, so this is crooked all the way around! Century is run by crooks, and it just gets plainer each day that it needs to fold up and give up.
Annnnnnnnd Century is still stuck in it’s old ways
Very stupid to remove perfectly healthy trees because they may or may not fall on structures that are nothing more than 4×4 posts with a roof.The trees were worth more than the structures the town was trying to “protect”.
Too bad the extra $2000.00 didn”t include stump grinding.
And, everybody thought things would change with Buzz. It’s the same Century, and the same very questionable deals
Good old Buzzsaw blowing through money on unnecessary stuff like the town actually has some. When will the insanity stop. By the way a vehicle might, just might run off the road and crash into one of those structures… Quick, put up guard rails!!! SMH.
Removing a historical, rare tree from a park? Removing trees that offer shade, beauty and help with green house gases? Makes about as much sense as a lot of
Other things going on in Century these days. Who gets the trees they took down and
What became of them?
If they awarded a contract without a written quote in writing, perhaps they have a lack of education or a learning disability. Or, perhaps it has not registered in their minds that prices rise. I just do not understand the things that go on in Century. Maybe some private citizen could have the drinking water up there tested. There are trees everywhere that MIGHT fall. The article did not say if the trees were dying. I did read they were concerned about wind damage, but it was not clear it that was a concern now since they were ALREADY damaged of if the concern was over any FUTURE wind damage.
It looks terrible without the trees.