Dirty locker rooms. Overflowing trash cans. Floors that have not been mopped or vacuumed. Hair clogging the shower drains. These were among the issues that staff brought before the Mountlake Terrace City Council last week as part of a discussion about the city’s current practice of outsourcing its custodial work — and whether it should hire employees to do the job instead.

City Recreation and Parks Director Jeff Betz and Parks and Property Superintendent Ken Courtmanch updated councilmembers during their Jan. 21 business meeting about the city’s custodial operations and the current problems that have generated frustration, both for city employees and for customers who used city facilities.

In a cost-cutting move at the end of 2006, the city eliminated its six custodial positions and hired contractors to do the work instead. The employees had been responsible not only for the Recreation Pavilion, but for the police station, city hall, the city’s operation facility and the fire station. But over time, the work has diminished as the fire station and library manage their own custodial services, and the former city hall was torn down after asbestos was found in the ceiling. As a result, the city now has contracts with vendors to provide custodial services for three city facilities: The 33,000-square-foot Recreation Pavilion, the 6,400-square-foot police station and the 6,000-square-foot operations facility.

While the decision to contract for services rather than pay employees saved the city $100,000, for the past 16 years there has been an ongoing problem with quality control. The first contractor hired in 2007 was let go after a year because duties weren’t being performed properly. The same thing happened in 2008. In fact, from 2011-19 the city has had seven different custodial services contractors.

Finding new firms to do the work is time-consuming. Every time the city ends a contract, it has to issue a new request for proposals — and then start fresh with procedures for a new group of employee contractors. Making matters more complicated, contract custodians who work at the police station have to undergo background checks

“It’s been very difficult for us to get any consistency with any of these different companies,” Betz said. “It’s just been going round and round and round ever since we started this in 2006.”

Customers at the Recreation Pavilion in particular have complained about the lack of cleanliness, he added. “The men’s locker is room is very dirty,” one Rec Pavilion customer wrote on a form available to Pavilion users to provide feedback. “The blue plastic cubes are covered with dust. The drains in the showers have green slime on them. Overall the appearance is not very inviting.”

Other issues cited at the Pavilion — and other city facilities using contract custodians — include trash bag liners not being replaced or emptied, carpets not being vacuumed, and floors not being mopped.

“These are very basic duties we are asking them to perform and sometimes that is what’s so frustrating,” Betz said.

Betz explained the situation like this: Many contractors bid for the work “regardless of whether they can perform the duties on a consistent basis, which leads them to underbid the actual cost of service required,” he said. Then, when service demands increase, contractors end the relationship.

“Essentially, they work for as long as they can until they get called out, and then they’ll terminate on their end,” Betz added.

And while there may be companies that could do a better job at a higher rate, public bidding laws require the city to take the lowest bidder, he said.

The issues related to custodial services contracts are not unique to Mountlake Terrace, Betz said. Other cities that use contract employees — including Lynnwood — have shared similar frustrations.

Staff is raising the issue now because a new city hall is scheduled to open at the end of 2020, and “we have concerns about facility cleanliness,” Betz said.

One option would be to hire two full-time employees to replace the current contractors, at an estimated additional cost of nearly $114,000. However, that money is not in the current budget, so the council would need to determine how to pay for those new employees, noted City Manager Scott Hugill. The city would need to bargain with the Teamsters Union over wages, benefits and working conditions for the positions, Betz said.

Councilmember Bryan Wahl said that while staff clearly delineated the problem, he wasn’t comfortable pursuing the option of adding new employees until the council addresses the city’s six-year forecast, which currently shows a deficit.

“It is a very valid point that you bring to us,” Wahl said. “But I don’t believe we are in position to start looking at those solutions untll we figure out our six-year forecast and get our finances under control.”

Betts pointed out that if the council decides to continue contracting, the city will need to issue a request for proposals for custodial services for the new city hall, which will cost at least $20,000 annually.

Mayor Koyoko Matsumoto Wright said that poor custodial service is an issue that needs to be addressed. “We need to have a clean place for our citizens,” she said.

In other action Jan. 21, the council:

— Approved by a 6-0  vote (Councilmember Laura Sonmore absent) a proposal by Mountlake Terrace-based Landsverk Quality Homes for the Antares Townhomes, located on the southwest corner of 238th Street Southwest and 55th Avenue West. The Mountlake Terrace Planning Commission recommended approving the proposal, which includes subdividing three parcels totaling just over a half acre into 19 single-family townhomes.

Associate City Planner Kevin Johnson explained that residents will access their homes by vehicle using the alley between 56th and 55th Avenues West, entering through an internal auto court that leads to garage entrances. A pedestrian walkway will also be incorporated into the alley. Provided parking is dependent on the number of bedrooms,  Johnson said. While city code requires a total of 27 spaces, the developer is providing 30 spaces.

The project will include a storm tank for collecting, treating and releasing stormwater, meeting both city and state guidelines, Johnson explained. Currently there are no sidewalks, but the project includes construction of new 8-foot sidewalks along the frontages of 238th Street Soutwhest and 55th Avenue West.

The only person commenting during the public hearing prior to council approval was Leanne Gravette, who lives across the street from the project. She asked about project’s duration and its impact on the surrounding neighborhood during construction. She also noted that the nearby mosque has services that require a lot of street parking and wondered if there were any plans to address that issue.

Landsverk Homes principal Duane Landsverk, who attended the hearing, replied that typically construction takes between nine and 14 months, weather depending. There will be no impact to the east side of 55th Avenue West, and the project will include a full street overlay so the asphalt in front of nearby homes will be improved, he said. Landsverk also acknowledged that mosque street parking is an issue, but called it “a neighborhood problem.”

— Unanimously approved a contract for $406,786.46 – covered by grant funding — with Musco Sports Ligting LLC for the manufacture and installation of LED lights for Evergreen Playfield #1. The new lighting system will accommodate all sports users including two baseball diamonds, and full or partial soccer fields. The system is completely customizable and the lighting is dimmable as well, allowing for various levels of use.

The lighting is part of a plan to transform the Evergreen Playfield dirt field into a turf surface would accommodate many sports including youth baseball and softball, plus soccer, flag football, rugby, lacrosse, field hockey and ultimate Frisbee.

The lights being installed can be turned on or off from anywhere, allowing for flexibility and energy savings. Research has shown that the new LED lighting systems reduces costs 50 percent from a typical field as well as having significantly less light spillage into the community. The lights are very focused and precise on what they illuminate and darkness in areas where lighting is not desired such as neighboring houses. Currently the existing 1970s-era lighting system “lights up the whole sky and the neighborhood,” Betz said.

— Received an update on the Civic Campus project, which includes the new city hall and remodeled police station. The council also heard about one amendment to the contract with ARC Architects for geotechnical work, for $16,865, and approved an additional amendment for required changes to electrical and telecommunications design services for $4,000.

— Approved the city’s state and federal legislative agendas, which will be carried out by the two lobbying firms the city hires annually to work in both Olympia and Washington, DC. You can see the state agenda here and the federal agenda here.

— Identified Saturday, Feb. 22 as the possible date for the city council’s annual retreat, starting at 9 a.m.

— By Teresa Wippel