P3 For Public Works

The City of Centennial is located just south of Denver city limits with 107,000 residents.  The city was formed in 2000 through high citizen engagement resulting in the largest incorporated city in U.S. history at the time.  The city was founded on residence involvement with a purposefully lean and efficient government that promotes collaborative partnerships.

To ensure a lean government and outstanding service, the city embraced public-private partnerships.  Public-private partnerships are a way for governments to collaborate with the private sector to share the risks and rewards involved in the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure projects.  Balancing service level expectations, capital expenditures and costs, and administration needs was a challenge for the city.  But these challenges were overcome by committing to a consistent and trusted private-sector partner.  It allowed the partners to define clear expectations of services and build a cooperative culture.  Since its incorporation, the city has been recognized as a leader in innovative government efficiency.

In 2008, Centennial launched a large-scale public private partnership with the prominent engineering and construction firm CH2M.  Terracare Associates was selected as a subcontractor for CH2M and was awarded a five-year contract to perform a comprehensive public works maintenance program for the City of Centennial.  This multi-layered partnership earned the city high honors and national attention for its innovative and cost-effective public works department.  The maintenance services that Terracare Associates provides for Centennial include street maintenance, sign maintenance and installation, snow removal, tree maintenance and removal, traffic signal maintenance, erosion control, weed and insect control, street sweeping, trash and debris clean-up, traffic control, and emergency response.

The Mayor of Centennial, Cathy Noon is a founding supporter of P3.  “As it turned out, private companies came in with a lower cost for providing the same or higher level of services,” says Mayor Noon.  In 2012, The City Council voted to extend its public works partnership through 2018, showing their continued support for outsourcing public works.  This innovative approach of privatizing public works – works. 

Photos of our work in Centennial

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3 Essential Ingredients to a Great Business Partnership

What is a partnership? Defined in Wikipedia; "a partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests." 

A partnership could be focused on individuals, as in a marriage, friends, or teammates.  For example, in our family we recently adopted two adorable puppies who work together to solve problems. Sometimes one stays awake while the other is checking out what is happening, our dogs are working together in partnership toward a common goal – FOOD!

Partnerships are also incredibly important in business.  In B2B relationships especially, developing a long-lasting relationship with customers, vendors, employees, and your community is so important when striving for a valuable business partnership.  

There are 3 essential ingredients to a great business partnership:

1.   Great communication

Success in business is greatly impacted, for better or worse, by the way we communicate. Effective business communication contains terminology, technical information, as well as providing instructions that can be easily understood by your audience and through consistent and timely interaction. Communication should also be crafted together to ensure your business partnership is supported by assuring everyone's needs are addressed promptly.

2.  Integrity

People often define integrity as doing the right thing even when no one else is around. It is the ability to act with honesty and be consistent in whatever you are doing at all levels of an organization. This is based on the particular belief, value, or moral compass your business has incorporated into your daily work within a B2B environment.

3.   Think long term

A successful partnership should last. Thinking long term about who you are doing business with and why they are important comes down to trust. It is important to build a relationship beyond business tasks. It’s a commitment to one another even during challenging times. Creating a customer experience that allows both parties to succeed is golden and can last for years to come.

Finally, another essential aspect of building outstanding partnerships is to work within the local community where your business operates. At Terracare Associates, we believe that giving back and volunteering is a great way to connect, make a difference, and build partnerships in our local areas.

Terracare Associates partners in a big way. During the month of April, in conjunction with Earth Day, we encourage our employees to partner and volunteer with local charities, bringing their expertise to the community. These community partnerships benefits from our core business skills. 

Here are some of the highlights from our charitable activities on Earth Day. 

Columbine Memorial, Colorado

The outdoor memorial to commemorate the tragic shooting at Columbine High school was beautifully built in 2007. The foundation did not have continuous funding to maintain the perennials, trees, pavers, mulch, mowing and water feature. Terracare Associates volunteered to maintain the memorial year round.

Each year in April, just before the anniversary of the tragedy, our employees volunteer to clean up the memorial to ensure it is a beautiful peaceful place for remembrance.

Learning Gardens - Liberty High School, Brentwood, California

Terracare Associates has built five Learning Gardens in the San Francisco Bay area to connect children and adults to nutritious foods through hands on experiences with accessible, local, edible gardens.

Bill Horn, Senior Vice President, spearheaded the idea to connect youth to the earth and Terracare Associates has selected school gardens as one of our signature community projects. Most recently we installed a learning garden at Liberty High School in Brentwood California. The Superintendent of Schools (pictured) supports and strongly supports this partnership.

Project Cure – Centennial Colorado

Project Cure is a non-profit headquartered in Centennial, Colorado. Their mission is to collect and recycle medical equipment and supplies to be used at hospitals in need around the world. We helped Project Cure with a plant sale fundraiser on Earth Day.

The team designated two locations, one in partnership with Sheraton Hotels on the 16 Street Mall and Project Cure headquarters in Centennial. The sale was a huge success -- raising enough to send more than $35,000 worth of life-saving medical supplies.

How does your company give back? Share your successful business partnerships with us on LinkedIn or Facebook. 

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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.

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Pot Holes - why they keep coming back

It is that time of year when we start to think of green grass, flowers, trees blooming and wheel alignment. Wheel alignment is as true to spring as the Easter bunny. It is pothole season.  You say...POT HOLES!

We just came out of the snowiest February in history for Colorado and many parts of the country accompanied, with bitter cold temperatures. Now as the temperatures begin to moderate back toward seasonal norms, the appearance of potholes is definitely in full bloom. In fact they grow overnight. I know that sounds like a bit of a story, but it is actually true.

Most roads in this country are built in the same manner, compacted soil topped with road base and then paved with either asphalt or concrete. The formation of a pothole is a product of cracks, water, cold and then warm temperatures. Water will find its way under a paved surface, whether by way of a crack in the surface or by infiltration from the roadside due to differing levels of compaction in the sub-grade and / or the expansion and contraction from the environment. If there is a low spot, water will find it. Once there is an opening and water seeps into the road structure the natural freeze /thaw cycle will begin the process of separating the pavement from the sub-grade and an air pocket is formed. The pocket allows a weakening beneath the paved surface and viola! A pothole is born. The size of the pothole is dictated by the number of motorists that hit that same area. Giving a size description ranging for a dip, depression, cavity, pit to cavity; some large enough to engulf some of the vehicle on the road.

As all of our roadways age, the need for maintenance increases. The older the infrastructure the greater the chance for potholes and it always seems that the pothole situation gets more pronounced every year. I saw that the City of Denver has repaired over 10,700 potholes this year as compared to 6,100 the previous year. The best fix is to dig out the affected area and replace the road base and then replace with hot mix asphalt. This process takes time and when there are hundreds to thousands to be repaired, the most common is to perform a temporary patch and hope it lasts until there is sufficient time to make a permanent repair.

The bottom line is that potholes are a part of our driving environment and the battle to minimize them is an ongoing maintenance problem that is guided by dollars that have been squeezed by ever tighten budgets of every agency and municipality in the United States. I know this is a silly statement, but slow down a little and pay attention to the road, those road crews are out there doing their best and trying to keep you safe an those wheels aligned. 

By Bill Winfield - Terracare Associates

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Mark Slicker - A Passion for Landscaping and Sustainability

Mark Slicker, Business Development Manager for Terracare Associates, Texas, is a lifelong landscaper with a passion for the environment.  He worked on a field maintenance crew at a local landscape company over the summers to raise money for college.  After graduating from University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration he worked in the green industry before joining VMC Landscape Services in 1994.  With the recent acquisition, he heads up the Texas business development team for Terracare Associates.

Mark noticed early on in his career, that creating a sustainable landscape environment not only pays off for clients, but it also contributes to the longevity of the plant health and can save money for his clients.  He was particularly concerned about drought conditions and water use on landscape projects. 

A Commitment to Sustainability and the Environment 

Mark believes that it is not only the environment changes that makes us concerned, but societal pressures as well. As the populations grows, it places a strain on resources, infrastructures and more importantly, the water supply. To stretch our water resource, we need to be smarter on how we install and maintain landscapes.

Most of the states in the Western United States have experience severe drought conditions over the past five years.The extremes in weather and temperature with long hot summers presents landscape maintenance with unique perpetual challenges.The EPA reports about 30% of the residential water use is contributed to the outdoors. So many HOA’s, industrial and commercial properties and city parks have elevated concerns during drought conditions and seeking expert advice to take action.

Sustainability is becoming vital for the commercial landscape industry. For each new building, the landscaping installed is being designed with sustainability in mind. Existing buildings are also moving toward renovating their landscape with a more sustainable and water-wise design.

LEED-AP Certification

After several clients asked for help achieving LEED certifications on their buildings, Mark decided to achieve his LEED certification. In 2009, Mark achieved the LEED-AP designation. LEED certification is a professional credential from the U.S. Green Building Council signifying you are a leader in the field of sustainablity.  To get this certification, Mark underwent learning volumes of material supporting sustainable practices and ending with an extensive test. It also requires yearly continuing education classes to keep certifications active and relavant. The LEED Certification means that Mark can better serve his clients by focusing on ways to improve the "green" initiative through proper landscape design and water conservation.

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3 Reasons You Should Consider Turf Conversion

Silverado CA - Before Conversion

From California to the Southwest, the drought conditions continue. As we suffer through yet another year of harsh climate, property managers will find it a challenge to keep turf grass green and healthy. In addition, higher water costs and frequent water restrictions have us reevaluating landscape maintenance options.

With no end to the drought in sight, we have to think more proactively of ways to landscape with less water. What can you do to:

•    Maintain the beauty of the landscaping on your property?

•    Use less water in your landscape?

•    Keep your plants alive and healthy?

One of the best ways to accomplish these goals is with a turf reduction conversion.

What is Turf Conversion (or reduction)?

Turf reduction or landscape conversion involves replacing selected sections of turf grass with drought resistant, native plants or other landscape materials. Turf reduction conversion doesn't mean covering your property in pea gravel or monkey grass.

With the vast selection of beautiful native plants with low water needs, creative design and use of alternative landscaping materials, you will not miss the turf areas.

Native Plants and Xeriscaping

Based on the climate and layout of your property, you can use a variety of low-growing ground covers such as Asiatic Jasmine and Lamb’s Ear that can take the heat and have low water requirements. Water-wise perennials and ornamental grasses will also add color and texture to the landscape design.

Landscape Alternatives
Crushed granite, mulch and river rocks are a few landscape alternatives to replace irrigated turf grass in areas that are long and narrow or small and odd-shaped.



Silverado CA - After Conversion

Why You Should Consider Turf   Reduction Conversion

1. Uses less landscape water and reduces watering costs

Did you know that landscape watering accounts for nearly 30% of your residential water bill?

Everyone loves the look of a beautifully manicured, lush, green turf area on their property. However Turf reduction can substantially reduce your water needs.  Because of the rising cost of landscape watering, many municipalities offer a rebate for reducing the turf areas on residential and commercial properties. Silverado HOA saved more than $5,000 in water costs first year of installation.

2. Is turf grass the best choice for certain areas?

The best use of turf grass is on areas where people will be sitting or playing. Ask yourself: Is it necessary to have turf grass in parking strips/islands or on south-facing slopes? Why pay to water turf in these hard-to-maintain areas, when that water can be used for the most valuable things in your landscape: trees.

3. Sustainability and being green

Today, being water-wise and sustainable are not just buzzwords. Irrigation modifications, using native plants and xeriscaping design are not only good for business, but reducing your water usage is the right thing to do.  This can help with property values and attractiveness to tenants who value sustainability.

Is turf reduction right for your property?
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New Web Launch

Terracare Associates Launches New Website

original Post September, 2014

It's a bird, it's a plane …..no it's Terracare's Associates new website! Terracare Associates launches new website to better assist clients and visitors to quickly navigate, educate and highlight industry trends. Check it out www.myterracare.com. Make it one of your favorites , as this is your resource for the latest industry news in landscape and infrastructure maintenance services. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You may win a prize!

Terracare Associates, LLC is a leading in outdoor maintenance in the Western United States. Terracare Associates established in 1985 as a single crew providing landscape maintenance services with a genuine commitment to customer loyalty. The company has now grown into an organization of more than 550 employees offering a broad range of service lines in multiple statesNow one of the top 25 commercial landscape maintenance companies in the United States and manage nearly 1,000 commercial and public projects in Colorado, California, Utah and Texas.

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