Board Votes To Send Notice To Boast Enterprises Over Mowing

The Bourbon city council voted Tuesday to send notice to Boast Enterprises regarding complaints it has regarding lawn mowing services.

Mayor Danny Skaggs criticized the company over what he deemed a “lousy job” mowing Festival Park and Sites Park ahead of the Fall Festival. Skaggs said the grass was supposed to be mowed on Thursday or Friday morning and it didn’t get done.

Ward 2 Alderwoman Mary Heywood motioned to authorize Skaggs to notify Boast Enterprises and it was unanimously approved.

Jared Boast was contacted on Wednesday by the Independent News regarding comments made by the board. Boast, who was not in attendance at the meeting and did not receive any notification that the topic would be discussed, admitted that the grass was not cut.

“We had a scheduling conflict and a breakdown in equipment on Friday afternoon,” Boast said. “It did not get done. I have no need to lie about it. I totally understand. We dropped the ball.”

Boast said he had been made aware Wednesday that discussion had taken place during Tuesday’s meeting, but was caught off-guard at some of the more critical comments made by the mayor and board members.

Boast said he has never been informed of a complaint by the city, “other than the fact that ‘this needs to be added’ or ‘this needs to be done more often,’” he said. “I do not consider those to be complaints. I consider those obvious requests.”

Boast added that he has never been requested to formally or informally meet in person to discuss problems with mowing.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Boast had not received any printed notification and he was unavailable the rest of the week. 

“Once I receive it, I feel as though an appropriate response will be drafted and sent to the city,” he said. “I don’t know what the content of the letter is, so I don’t know what being put on notice means. I cannot really define what my actions are going to be.”

Boast said he is open to meeting with the board to go over any issues they have.

Skaggs said he has talked to other people who are “ticked off” at the lawn mowing and that he is “constantly calling” city employee Mark McEuen asking where the workers are. 

When the city put the bid out for lawn mowing in 2017, it selected Boast Enterprises. Boast put forth a two-year bid earlier this year that the board selected, but Skaggs said he will be asking council members to reexamine it and possibly re-bid the contract, along with stipulations. Skaggs suggested holding money back if the mowing isn’t done to a satisfactory level.

Ward 1 Alderman Dave Lafferty criticized Boast for sub-contracting to Mighty Mow, saying those are not the workers the board chose. Skaggs pointed out, though, that Boast used a similar arrangement in 2017.

“We did not hire the people doing that,” said Lafferty, referring to the mowing. “(Boast) is responsible and he is not being responsible.”

Skaggs suggested that Boast and Kenny McGraw of Mighty Mow are too busy working for the county, but Boast said his position as District 2 Commissioner “has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of any work Boast Enterprises performs.”