Creating Winning Partnerships for Municipalities Landscape

Park and streetscape beautification delivers essential environmental, aesthetic, and recreation benefits to our cities.  Investing in projects that maintain the city outdoors results in positive economic benefits, enhanced property values, increased municipal revenue, and attracts homebuyers and employers who appreciate well maintained outdoor areas.
Terracare Associates (TCA) works with municipalities from California to Texas providing landscape maintenance services to meet the unique needs of governmental agencies. 

One of the reasons for our success in working with local governments is our approach to creating winning partnerships. We understand the high expectations of public lands. Along with our in-depth knowledge of horticulture, public works and water conservation methods, TCA is uniquely qualified to deliver high quality services best suited for partnering with numerous governmental agencies.

Here are some key elements in creating a winning partnership:

● Choose a professional service contractor based on experience rather than the lowest bid as working toward and caring about the citizens needs is critically important
● Partner with a service provider who offers a full range of commercial landscape maintenance services including horticulture expertise and public works.
● Find a contractor who is known for listening to city council members, managers, and citizens to help solve problems quickly. 
● Service providers who utilize state-of-the-art technology and a highly skilled landscape maintenance staff to get the job done efficiently and effectively the first time is of the utmost importance when working with municipalities.
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Take a look at two long-term Terracare Associates partnerships:

City of Brentwood, California

 The City of Brentwood, California is located about 60 miles northeast of San Francisco Bay area, with 85,000 residents.  In 1999, with the formation of the Brentwood Parks and Recreation Department, the city council made a deliberate decision not to develop a full landscape maintenance division.  Instead, they concluded that outsourcing landscape maintenance was needed due to both a limited budget and expected service levels.

The city's focus was to build an outcome-based contract.  In 2009, the City of Brentwood selected Terracare Associates to be their exclusive parks and streetscape maintenance provider. Bill Horn, TCA Senior Vice President said “Our working relationship with local governments, blended with a deep knowledge of horticulture, makes us a natural fit for city landscape contracts.”  

In Brentwood, the landscape needing to be maintained included parks, street medians, open space, and right-of-ways. Building a relationship between the contractor and the parks and recreation staff was critically important. Also, with over seven million square feet of turf and more than 60 parks, quality of service was very important to the city.  Terracare Associates understands that citizens have high expectations of public lands so they asked Francisco Quintero, a 16 year company veteran of TCA was assigned to manage the The City of Brentwood account.  Quintero and the City worked closely to develop a scope of work that was clear, concise and accountable.

Creating a transparent and responsive customer approach to maintenance services helped to secure the long-term partnership. Craig Bronzan the former Parks and Recreation Director said, “We have found them (TCA) to be…interested in fostering a relationship based on trust and being partners.” This trusted relationship is successful because the contractor is looking out for the best interest of the city.

City of Grapevine, Texas

The City of Grapevine is located less than 25 miles from Downtown Dallas, TX, close to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. With the adjacent Lake Grapevine and historical buildings, the city's economy is largely centered around tourism. The appearance and beautification of public areas are extremely important to Grapevine city managers.

Terracare Associates has partnered with the City of Grapevine for sixteen years, providing municipal landscape maintenance services for more than 340 acres, including street medians, right-of-ways, municipal buildings, parks, irrigation inspections, and renovations.
For the past sixteen the years, Terracare Associates has expanded their services to include the Grapevine Botanic Gardens and numerous enhancement projects. Tino Alba, the TCA Account Manager for City of Grapevine, has also helped the city to design and implement plans that best meet their needs.

When discussing the long-term partnership, Mike Hooker at the City of Grapevine said, "What we appreciate most is their commitment to providing professional service and their quick emergency response time. It is important to us as well as the reliability and trust“.  He has appreciated the leadership Tino Alba has taken on many projects.

Other Partnerships 

In addition to Brentwood, CA and Grapevine, TX, Terracare Associates has successfully partnered with several municipalities and governmental agencies, including:

● Centennial Park, Centennial Colorado
● The City of Milpitas, Livermore and Folsom, California
● Elk Grove Cosumnes Community Services District. California
● City of Keller, Texas
● And our newest city Carlsbad, California

Learn more about Terracare Associates’ municipal landscape maintenance and public works services.