LAKE FOREST : City Rejects Lowest Bid for Parks Work

The City Council last week rejected the lowest bid for the parks landscape maintenance contract and instead approved a $359,000 offer from an Irwindale firm.

The low offer of $224,117 from Creative Landscaping Inc. of Anaheim was declined because the bid carried errors in computation, city public works officials said.

After being assured by City Atty. Tom Wood that the city would not be locked into a contract that contained serious financial errors, the City Council decided to accept a bid from Mariposa Horticulture Enterprises Inc.

Bids from four other companies competing for the contract were at least $50,000 higher than Mariposa Horticulture’s.

The Irwindale firm began maintaining the city’s parks this week on an interim basis until the contract can be finalized.

Lake Forest, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary as a city later this month, took over park maintenance from the county last July.

The new park landscape and maintenance contract will be for one year, with the city retaining an option to renew the service annually for another two years.